What does connatural mean?
"Connatural" is a formal adjective describing something that belongs to a person or thing by its very nature — innate, inborn, and inseparable from what it is. A child's connatural curiosity, for instance, is not learned but present from the start. The word also has a specialized life in philosophy and theology, where it describes a natural kinship between a faculty and its fitting object: the mind's connatural attraction to truth, or the soul's connatural desire for the divine. Derived from Latin roots meaning "born together with," it entered English in the early seventeenth century and has remained a learned rather than everyday term. It appears most often in scholarly writing on metaphysics, scholastic thought, and human nature, where precision about what is essential versus acquired matters. Writers reach for it when "innate" feels too clinical and "inherent" too abstract.
adjectiveInnate or inborn; existing in something naturally as an essential quality. In philosophy and theology, it also describes a natural affinity or kinship between things of the same nature.
- Innate, inborn, or inherent in someone's or something's nature.
- (Philosophy/theology) Naturally allied or akin; describing the affinity between a faculty and the object proper to it, such as the intellect's connatural grasp of truth.
"Her connatural love of music seemed to emerge before she could even speak."
"The critic argued that a sense of rhythm is connatural in humans, appearing across every known culture."
"For Aquinas, the soul possesses a connatural appetite for God, a longing written into its very substance."
Coined in the early 1600s, "connatural" was a favorite of philosophers like Thomas Aquinas's interpreters — it names the deep kinship between a thing and its own nature, the reason we grasp what we were made to grasp.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of connatural
Connatural derives from the Late Latin "connaturalis," formed from the prefix "com-" (together) plus "naturalis" (natural), from "natura," ultimately rooted in "nasci," to be born — hence literally "born together with." It entered English in the early seventeenth century, initially through theological and scholastic philosophical writing. Its cognates include "native," "natal," and "nativity," all descendants of the same Latin root for birth.
Related word forms
How connatural is actually used
Formal and largely literary or academic in register; rare in everyday conversation but still current in philosophy, theology, and scholarly prose. It carries a neutral-to-elevated connotation and should not be used where "innate" would do plainer work.
Easily confused with connatural
"Congenial" means pleasant or agreeable in temperament, while "connatural" means innate or belonging to one's essential nature.
"Congenital" refers specifically to conditions present from birth, especially medical ones, whereas "connatural" refers to qualities inherent in one's nature more broadly.