English
competence
Competence comes from Late Latin competentia ‘agreement, symmetry, correspondence’, and goes back to Latin competēns.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompetēns‘meeting, agreeing’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcompetentia‘agreement, symmetry, correspondence’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600compétence
- Englishearliest quotation 1733competence
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompetēns‘meeting, agreeing’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcompetentia‘agreement, symmetry, correspondence’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600compétence
- Englishearliest quotation 1733competence
Earliest quotation: 1733, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man. […]: “Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, /…”
Linked words
through Latin competēns ‘meeting, agreeing’
Today it means
noun The quality or state of being competent, i.e. able or suitable for a general role.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin competēns / competence