Proficiency

How to spell proficiency

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce proficiency

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does proficiency mean?

1. nounA high degree of competence or skill in a particular activity or subject.

Proficiency in a sentence

• The job advert asks for proficiency in three European languages.

• Her proficiency with spreadsheets made the monthly accounts far quicker.

Where does proficiency come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb proficere, which meant 'to make progress' or 'to advance', built from pro- 'forward' and facere 'to make or do'; so at root someone proficient is literally someone who has 'made their way forward'. From proficere came the adjective proficiens, the present participle describing one who is advancing or gaining ground, and English borrowed proficient in the sixteenth century to mean skilled or well advanced in something. The abstract noun proficiency, meaning the state of being skilled, followed shortly after, around the late 1500s. The same facere root quietly powers a huge family of English words, including factory, efficient, and perfect, all carrying that sense of making or doing. The spelling trap lives in the ending: the soft 'sh' sound is written with a c, giving -ciency rather than the -shency the ear expects, and the unstressed vowels around it offer no clue to the writer.

How the word is built

• pro- (forward)
• fic (from Latin facere: to make, to do)
• -iency (noun-forming suffix)