What is the verb for "cognition"?

Question

Going by known pairs of nouns and verbs, it would be "cognite", but is it valid? If not, what's the right word?

Update: I know cognise or cognize, but it doesn't cover the full meaning of "cognition" as it's used now. E.g., AHD has "The mental process or faculty of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment." Consider the usage in "Cognitive-Behavorial Therapy". It's far more than just the meaning of "know".

Furthermore, cognize is the verb for cognizance, not cognition.

Answer 1

The word cognize (cognise) does exist, but according to the OED etymology it seems a relatively recent word backformed from cognisant, cognition etc. and from the earlier recognise. The relevant entry is:

Etymology: A comparatively modern word, formed with reference to cognizance , cognizor , and the kindred words, and the earlier recognize . It thus corresponds analogically, but not phonetically, to Latin cognōscere , Old French conoistre , French connaître : compare cognosce v. The prevalence of the ending -ize over -ise is apparently due to the influence of the large class of verbs having etymological -ize suffix.

†1. Law. (intr. or absol.) To take cognizance. 1659 T. Burton Diary (1828) III. 129 The Judges..sit at Westminster, and they cognize.

2. trans. To take cognizance of, take note of, notice, observe. 1821 Joseph the Book-man 107 [He] was cogniz'd by every eye.

1889 J. M. Robertson Ess. Crit. Method 72 Moved to incipient hysteria where anon I should simply cognize pathos.

3. Philosophy. To know, perceive, become conscious of; to make (anything) an object of cognition.

a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) II. xxi. 19 It would also be convenient..for psychological precision and emphasis, to use the word to cognise in connection with its noun cognition.

a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) II. xxxvi. 329 They first know,—they first cognise, the things and persons presented to them.

1862 H. Spencer First Princ. i. iv. §24. 80 It is a material object, and it is cognized by being recognized as such.

1876 St. G. Mivart Lessons from Nature vii. 196 We cognize an object..by one act; we cognize that cognition by a very different act.

Answer 2

cognize

or cognise (ˈkɒɡnaɪz , kɒɡˈnaɪz )
verb
(transitive)
to perceive, become aware of, or know
^{Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins}

See also:

‘The distinction between intuitive and abstractive cognition does not depend on the object at all; the very same object can be cognized in both an intuitive and an abstractive way.’
(cognize on ODO)

Answer 3

Firstly, cognite is not a word. There is no apparent entry of this word in any of the standard dictionaries. So, there is no question of it being a verb.

That said, you are right, that cognize or cognise does not fully cover the meaning of cognition because cognize is a verb of cognizance.

But, you can still use cognize as a verb for cognition on selected topics where cognition acts as a noun for cognizance, check below.

There are delineating similarities between Cognition (noun) and Cognizance (noun) which allows us to use "cognize" as a verb to cognition.

Following are the details:

So, whenever cognition acts as a noun to cognizance you can use "cognize" as verb to cognition.

Why, cogitate can't be used as verb for cognition?

Answer 4

While reading through, I've managed to cognitize the word!

I googled it and yes it has begun to be used.

Some aren't what I was looking for, because the word is used as a causative, e.g. "Cognitize your course: Technology tools to optimize cognition in online learning" and "Everything that we formerly electrified we will now cognitize."

But some are, e.g.:

• Technologies that cognitize with us, thus playing an active part in our cognitive processes and constituting themselves as inherent components in human …

• Therefore, in the process of young children's attempt in applying their limited vocabulary to map objects in the real world, non- extendedness, the unmarked extension, would appear to be easier to perceive, cognitize and acquire than the …

• Tanner and Lupton133 have probed into the constructs which engineers may use and have made a useful start on the process of discovering how industrial engineers in different enterprises (and countries) cognitize the zones of manoeuvre.

Someone on FB also asked: is there a word called "cognitize"

[Update: I'm super-duper happy to find much greater confirmation as shown in Sven Yargs's comment below. 41 confirmed unique matches for cognitize, 2 for de-cognitize, and 31 for cognitise, is super good enough for me.]

Thanks, everybody for the conversation. Although none of you provided this word, you've made me cognitize enough to have this word come up in my head.

[Update: You may be interested to see this on Google's Ngram Viewer: cognitize.

Answer 5

Cognition, in the sense of "perception, sensation" is an old usage dating back to the 17th century:

In 17c. the meaning was extended to include perception and sensation.

from which:

the psychological processes by which individuals acquire and process information, generally applied to thought processes and memory. cognitive psychology the branch of psychology concerned with the study of cognition.

(Dictionary of Sport and Exercise Science and Medicine by Churchill Livingstone)

The verb is cognize. The originale term from which all other related term derive is cognizance, from Old French “conoistre” (to know). Note that it is a formal term.

"perceive, become conscious of," 1650s, back-formation from cognizance. The French word is connaître (Old French conoistre).

(Etymonline)