Where does “incompetent” come from?
Incompetent comes from French incompétent, from Latin incompetens, combining the prefix in- with petens (from petere, meaning to seek or strive), thus literally meaning not striving toward or not meeting a requirement.
incompetent (English): Unskilled; lacking the degree of ability that...
Definitions
- Unskilled; lacking the degree of ability that...
Ancestry of “incompetent”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | incompétent | incompetent |
| 2 | Latin | incompetentem | accusative masculine singular of incompetēns;... |
| 3 | Latin | incompetens | insufficient |
| 4 | Latin | competēns | meeting, coinciding, agreeing |
| 5 | Latin | competō | to come together, meet |
| 6 | Latin | cōn- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects |
| 7 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 8 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 12 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 13 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 14 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 15 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 16 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 18 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |