English
competency
Competency 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’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598competency
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompetēns‘meeting, agreeing’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcompetentia‘agreement, symmetry, correspondence’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598competency
Earliest quotation: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “Superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency lives…”
Linked words
through Latin competēns ‘meeting, agreeing’
Today it means
noun The ability to perform some task; competence.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin competēns / competency