Competent

How to spell competent

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce competent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does competent mean?

1. adjectiveHaving the skill, knowledge, or ability to do something successfully.

Competent in a sentence

• The new accountant proved highly competent with complex tax returns.

• After two years of training she felt fully competent to lead the team.

Where does competent come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin competentem, the present participle of the verb competere, which literally meant 'to come together, to meet, or to agree'. That verb was built from com- 'together' and petere 'to seek, strive, or aim at', so the underlying image is of things coming together fittingly or being suitable for one another. In its earliest English use during the 1400s it carried this older sense of 'suitable, sufficient, or belonging by right', and only later shifted to the modern meaning of having the ability or skill to do something well. The very same petere root sits inside the familiar relatives 'compete', 'petition', and 'appetite', all of which still carry the idea of seeking or striving after something. The chief spelling trap is the unstressed ending: the final vowel is a faint schwa, which tempts writers toward '-ant', but the Latin participle fixes it firmly as '-ent'.

How the word is built

• com- (together)
• pet (seek, strive)
• -ent (adjective suffix, denoting a quality or state)