Standard Lemma guide

cotangent

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: 'kōtănjənt
  • US: /ˈkoʊˌtænd͡ʒənt/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

In a right triangle, the reciprocal of the tangent of an angle. Symbols: cot, ctg, or ctn

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: mathematics, sciences, trigonometry

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

ratio of the adjacent to the opposite side of a right-angled triangle

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cotan

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: trigonometric function, circular function

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Latin co-der. English co- Proto-Indo-European *teh2g- Proto-Italic *tangō Latin tangō Latin tangēns Latin tangentembor. English tangent English cotangent From co- + tangent.

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: kotangens — trigonometric function
  • Afrikaans: kotangense — trigonometric function
  • Arabic: ظِلّ اَلتَّمَام (ẓill at-tamām) — trigonometric function
  • Catalan: cotangent — trigonometric function
  • Cebuano: kaliras — trigonometric function
  • Chinese Mandarin: 餘切 /余切 (yúqiē) — trigonometric function
  • Czech: kotangens — trigonometric function
  • Finnish: kotangentti — trigonometric function
  • French: cotangente — trigonometric function
  • Galician: cotanxente — trigonometric function
  • German: Kotangens — trigonometric function
  • Greek: συνεφαπτομένη (synefaptoméni) — trigonometric function
  • Hebrew: קוטנגנס (kotangens) — trigonometric function
  • Hungarian: kotangens — trigonometric function
  • Italian: cotangente — trigonometric function
  • Japanese: 余接 (yosetsu) — trigonometric function
  • Japanese: コタンジェント (kotanjento) — trigonometric function
  • Khmer: កូតង់សង់ (koutɑngsɑng) — trigonometric function
  • Manx: co-hanjent — trigonometric function
  • Norwegian: cotangens — trigonometric function
  • Polish: cotangens — trigonometric function
  • Polish: kotangens — trigonometric function
  • Portuguese: co-tangente — trigonometric function
  • Romanian: cotangentă — trigonometric function
  • Russian: кота́нгенс (kotángens) — trigonometric function
  • Spanish: cotangente — trigonometric function
  • Swedish: cotangent — trigonometric function
  • Tagalog: katanway — trigonometric function
  • Thai: โคแทนเจนต์ — trigonometric function
  • Turkish: kotanjant — trigonometric function
  • Vietnamese: côtang — trigonometric function