Page "Cognate" Paragraph 7

Cognates may often be less easily recognised than the above examples and authorities sometimes differ in their interpretations of the evidence.

The English word milk is clearly a cognate of German Milch, Dutch melk, Russian молоко ( moloko ) and Croatian mlijeko.

On the other hand, French lait and Spanish leche ( both meaning " milk ") are less obviously cognates of Ancient Greek gálaktos ( genitive singular of gála, " milk "), a relationship more evidently seen through the intermediate Latin lac " milk ", as well as the English word lactic and other terms borrowed from Latin.

At times, cognates may even be opposites.

For instance, while the Hebrew word chutzpah means " impudence ," its Arabic cognate ḥaṣāfah means " sound judgment ;" even more contradictorily, the English word black and Polish biały, meaning white, both derive from the PIE, meaning, " to burn or shine.