Web Translation Projects/English-Spanish, Spanish-English Translation/English-Spanish cognates

In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. Cognates are often inherited from a shared parent language, but they may also involve borrowings from some other language. Cognates may have evolved similar, different, or even opposite meanings, and although there are usually some similar sounds or letters in the words, they may appear to be dissimilar. Some words sound similar, but do not come from the same root; these are called false cognates, while some are truly cognate but differ in meaning; these are called false friends. About 90% of Spanish cognates have the same meaning in English.

According to a study, there are about 20,000 English-Spanish cognates. The list below provides only a small percentage of them. You may find more English-Spanish cognates on https://www.realfastspanish.com/vocabulary/spanish-cognates.

English word – Spanish cognate

A

Altar    Altar

Acción    Action

Artificial    Artificial

Acusación    Accusation

Admiración    Admiration

B

Bar    Bar

Base    Base

Brutal    Brutal

C

Cable    Cable

Capital    Capital

Combinación    Combination

Colaboración    Collaboration

Compensación    Compensation

D

Debate    Debate

Decisión    Decision

Diagonal    Diagonal

División    Division

Doctor    Doctor

E

Exclusive    Exclusive

Excursión    Excursion

Explosión    Explosion

Expulsión    Expulsion

Extensión    Extension

F

Ficción    Fiction

Festival    Festival

Flexible    Flexible

Frontal    Frontal

Formación    Formation

G

Gala    Gala

Gas    Gas

General    General

Global    Global

Grave    Grave

H

Horror    Horror

Hospital    Hospital

Hotel    Hotel

Heroico    Heroic

I

Inevitable    Inevitable

Inferior    Inferior

Inseparable    Inseparable

Invasión    Invasion

Invisible    Invisible

J / K

Judicial    Judicial

Kilo    Kilo

L

Lateral    Lateral

Legal    Legal

Liberal    Liberal

Literal    Literal

Local    Local

M

Manual    Manual

Marginal    Marginal

Medieval    Medieval

Mediocre    Mediocre

Mental    Mental

N

Natural    Natural

Noble    Noble

Normal    Normal

Nostalgia    Nostalgia

O

Ópera    Ópera

Oriental    Oriental

Original    Original

Orgánico    Organic

P

Pretensión    Pretension

Principal    Principal

Probable    Probable

Protector    Protector

Provincial    Provincial

R

Radical    Radical

Regular    Regular

Religión    Religion

Reunión    Reunion

Revisión    Revision

S

Sentimental    Sentimental

Subversión    Subversion

Superficial    Superficial

Superior    Superior

Secular    Secular

T

Taxi    Taxi

Terrible    Terrible

Triple    Triple

Trágico    Tragic

U

Unión    Unión

Universal    Universal

Usual    Usual

V

Versión    Version

Vertical    Vertical

Visible    Visible

Visual    Visual