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Are there any pairs of English words that are cognate to each other yet have opposite meanings?

English Language & Usage Asked by Kyle O'Brien on August 18, 2020

Alright, here’s the best way I can explain this: if, hypothetically, the word pairs (love, loathe) and (friend, fiend) were cognates (i.e. they shared an etymological ancestor), they would be precisely what I’m looking for. These pairs aren’t cognates, of course, but what I’m trying to get at is that if they were, they’d fit my criteria: antonyms that are also cognate to one another.

So, now that that’s explained, I have to ask: does anyone know of a real, non-hypothetical duo of words of the type I’m describing? Also, I realize this is the English language board, but if for some reason anyone happens to know of an example of this from a language besides English, please do consider chiming in anyways. Failing that, really any other relevant info or insight would also be a huge help, as I’m pretty much at a loss for leads on this one.

Thanks in advance~

NOTE: as far as this specific request is concerned, I’m not interested in either:

  • contranyms/auto-antonyms (e.g. fast can mean both "quick" and "unmoving")
  • antonyms that only differ in their affix (e.g. attach, detach; careful, careless; etc.)

Those two things aside, however, I’m really just looking for any two cognates with contrasting meanings. Whether they’re direct, binary opposites (e.g. true, false) or a more subjective sort of opposites (e.g. float, sink), I’m all ears. I’d even say feel free even to compare words across different parts of speech (e.g. alive, death) – just so long as they’re English cognates whose definitions clash with each other, that’s what I want to find at least one veritable example of, if only to say that I can.

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