Where does “competent” come from?

Competent comes from Middle English competent, from Old French competent, from Latin competens, the present participle of competo, meaning to strive together, from con- and peto, meaning to seek or aim.

competent (English): Having sufficient skill, knowledge, ability, or...

Definitions

Having sufficient skill, knowledge, ability, or...

Ancestry of “competent”, step by step

competent traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via French compétent

Step	Language	Word	Meaning
1	French	compétent	competent
2	German	kompetent	competent
3	Italian	competente	competent; expert, qualified; having jurisdiction
4	Spanish	competente	competent; expert, qualified
5	Portuguese	competente	competent
6	Latin	competēns	meeting, coinciding, agreeing
7	Latin	competō	to come together, meet
8	Latin	cōn-	Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects
9	Latin	cum	with, along with; at; -fold
10	Old Latin	com	Alternative form of cum
11	Proto-Italic	kom	with, along, at
12	Proto-Indo-European	ḱóm	beside, near, by, with
13	Proto-Indo-European	ḱe	Deictic particle, here; Post-positional...
14	Middle English	kyt	—
15	German	kitt	putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes
16	Old High German	kuti	—
17	Proto-West Germanic	kwidu	gum, resin
18	Proto-Germanic	kweduz	resin
19	Proto-Indo-European	gʷet-	resin, gum; to say, speak
20	Proto-Indo-European	gū-	to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,...

via Middle English competent

Step	Language	Word	Meaning
1	Middle English	competent	—
2	Old French	competent	—

Words derived from “competent”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European gū- →