The article considers the main tasks of cognitive terminology as a new direction of linguistic research, which is formed at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries, and prospects for studying the cognitive potential of terminology in various formats of scientific knowledge. Cognitive (cognitive-discursive) terminology studies the role of terminological units in scientific cognition and thinking, the problem of interaction between the language of science and scientific cognition, the phenomenon of scientific knowledge, its typology and forms of representation in the mental space of the specialist.The study of terminological systems with the involvement of methods of cognitive analysis and the construction of specific cognitive models allows a deeper examination of the processes of their formation and functioning. Methods of cognitive terminology provide an opportunity to understand not only the formation and development of professional concepts and categories, but also their hierarchy, organization, structure.Categoryone of the cognitive forms of human thinking, which allows summarizing and classifying existing experience and knowledge. Concepta dynamic mental formation, the development of which is influenced by the national language, knowledge and experience of man, reflected in psyche; in addition, the concept is the result of cognitive activity of both the scientific community and a specialist, in particular, a veterinarian.Framea schematic organization of the data obtained, through which a person learns special information.