cognoscente

English

WOTD – 27 November 2008

Alternative forms

• conoscente (rare)

Etymology

From obsolete Italian cognoscente (modern Italian conoscente) from Latin cognōscere (“to know”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɒnjəˈʃɛnti/, /ˌkɒnjəˈʃɛnti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑɡnəˈʃɛnti/, /ˌkɑnjəˈʃɛnti/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (US):

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• Homophone: cognoscenti

Noun

cognoscente (plural cognoscenti)

1. (often in the plural) Someone possessing superior or specialized knowledge in a particular field.

   Synonyms: connoisseur, maven

   • 1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XX, in Middlemarch […], volume II, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book II:

     He is the painter who has been held to combine the most complete grace of form with sublimity of expression. Such at least I have gathered to be the opinion of cognoscenti.

   • 1904 November, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], Cabbages and Kings, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co.:

     He was a brilliant cosmopolite and a cognoscente of high rank; but, after all, he was of the same race and blood and instinct as this people.

   • 1998, Marc J. Seifer, chapter 42, in Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius, →ISBN, page 397:

     At night, as creative author, the cognoscente sketched out the first draft of his expanded autobiography.

   • 2011, Patrick Spedding, James Lambert, “Fanny Hill, Lord Fanny, and the Myth of Metonymy”, in Studies in Philology, volume 108, number 1, page 117:

     In the latter case — if only a handful of people knew the term — it would have been pretty pointless for Cleland to name his protagonist Fanny when practically nobody was likely to get the joke, not even cognoscenti such as Grose.

   • 2018 August 19, Sean O’Hagan, quoting Irvine Welsh, “Irvine Welsh: ‘I thought Trainspotting would be a cult book, but not generation-defining’”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The initial buzz it generated was among a certain section of the London cultural cognoscenti, the ex-punk crowd. They got it immediately.

   • 2019 May 11, Farah Nayeri, “Venice Biennale’s Top Prize Goes to Lithuania”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     The Biennale can be daunting for those who are not art cognoscenti or participants in the art world.

   • 2020 December 30, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Cut HS2 eastern leg, says NIC?”, in Rail, page 3:

     And by the way, yes I AM inventing the HS2E acronym, because few outside the HS2 cognoscenti understand all that 'Phase' stuff!

Related terms

• cognition
• cognizance

Translations

someone possessing specialized knowledge in a particular field

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 行家 (zh) (hángjiā)

• Czech: expert (cs) m, znalec (cs) m
• Dutch: kenner (nl), expert (nl)
• Finnish: asiantuntija (fi)
• French: connaisseur (fr) m, expert (fr) m
• German: Kenner (de) m, Kennerin (de) f
• Persian: اهل فن (fa) (ahl-e fan)
• Russian: знато́к (ru) m (znatók) (superior), экспе́рт (ru) m or f (ekspért) (specialized)
• Spanish: experto (es), conocedor (es) m
• Swedish: expert (sv) c, kännare (sv) c, förståsigpåare (sv) c

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /koɲ.ɲoʃˈʃɛn.te/
• Rhymes: -ɛnte
• Hyphenation: co‧gno‧scèn‧te

Participle

cognoscente (plural cognoscenti)

1. (obsolete) present participle of cognoscere

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /koɡnosˈθente/ [koɣ̞.nosˈθẽn̪.t̪e]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /koɡnoˈsente/ [koɣ̞.noˈsẽn̪.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ente
• Syllabification: cog‧nos‧cen‧te

Adjective

cognoscente m or f (masculine and feminine plural cognoscentes)

1. cognitive

Further reading

• “cognoscente”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014