cognoscente

noun co·gno·scen·te \ ˌkän-yə-ˈshen-tē , ˌkäg-nə- , -ˈsen- \

Definition of cognoscente

plural cognoscenti play \ˌkän-yə-ˈshen-tē, ˌkäg-nə-, -ˈsen-\

:a person who has expert knowledge in a subject :connoisseur

a computer cognoscente

a cognoscente of the art world

cognoscente was our Word of the Day on 06/06/2012. Hear the podcast!

Examples of cognoscente in a Sentence

a cognoscente of medieval painting
cognoscenti in the art world knew that most of the works being auctioned off were second-rate stuff

Did You Know?

Cognoscente and "connoisseur" are more than synonyms; they're also linguistic cousins. Both terms descend from the Latin verb cognoscere, meaning "to know," and they're not alone. You might guess that "cognizance" and "cognition" are members of the "cognoscere" clan. Do you also recognize a family resemblance in "recognize"? Can you see through the disguise of "incognito"? Did you have a premonition that we would mention "precognition"? "Cognoscente" itself came to English by way of Italian and has been a part of our language since the late 1700s.

Origin and Etymology of cognoscente

borrowed from Italian (now spelled conoscente), from cognoscente, conoscente adjective, "knowing," from present participle of cognoscere, conoscere "to know, have knowledge of," going back to Latin cognōscere "to get to know, acquire knowledge of" — more at cognition

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1776

See Words from the same year