What does cogitable mean?
Cogitable is a formal English adjective meaning capable of being thought about or grasped by the mind — in short, conceivable. It derives from the Latin verb cogitare, 'to think', the same root that gives us cogitate and, through Descartes' celebrated maxim, the phrase cogito, ergo sum. In practice, cogitable appears almost exclusively in philosophical, theological, or scholarly contexts, where writers draw boundaries around the limits of human reason, distinguishing what the mind can entertain from what lies beyond comprehension. Its natural opposite is inconceivable or unthinkable, and it also has a rarer negative counterpart, incogitable. Because of its rarity, cogitable lends prose an elevated, slightly archaic flavour, and many readers will encounter it for the first time in academic texts. Though it can be applied loosely to any plan or idea that is at least thinkable, its most precise use concerns the theoretical limits of cognition rather than mere practicality. For those who enjoy precise, Latin-derived vocabulary, cogitable offers a compact way to say 'within reach of thought'.
adjectiveCapable of being thought about or considered; conceivable within the scope of thought.
- Capable of being thought about or entertained by the mind; conceivable.
"The philosopher argued that even the most alien forms of life remain cogitable to the human mind."
"For Kant, certain ideas lie beyond what is strictly cogitable by finite human reason."
"The plan was ambitious but still cogitable, so the committee agreed to explore it further."
It shares its Latin root with Descartes' famous 'cogito, ergo sum' — 'I think, therefore I am' — making it a distant cousin of philosophy's most quoted sentence.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cogitable
Cogitable comes from the Latin cogitare, meaning 'to think' or 'to ponder', formed with the intensive prefix co- added to the root agere, 'to drive or set in motion'. It entered English in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century as part of the wave of Latinate vocabulary absorbed into learned writing. Its closest relatives include cogitate and cogitation, which preserve the same root more visibly, and it is etymologically connected to agitate and cogency through the underlying Latin agere.
Related word forms
How cogitable is actually used
'Cogitable' is rare and belongs chiefly to formal philosophical or academic writing; it is seldom heard in everyday speech and often appears alongside its negative form 'inconceivable' or the rarer 'incogitable'.
Easily confused with cogitable
'Cognitive' relates to the mental processes of thinking and knowing, whereas 'cogitable' describes something that can itself be thought about or conceived.
'Cogent' means clear, logical and convincing (as in an argument), while 'cogitable' simply means capable of being thought about.