incompetent

Etymology

It is borrowed from French incompétent,^[2][3][4][5] from Late Latin incompetēns (“insufficient”),^[2][3][4] from in- (“not”) and competēns (“suitable, competent”),^[4][5] the present participle of competō (“to strive together, be suitable”).^[4] Merriam-Webster gives the French source as Middle French,^[6] and the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford allow a direct borrowing from Late Latin.^[5][7] It is related to competent.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not legally competent or qualified: 1595, in Samuel Daniel's Civil Wars.^[2][6][5]

Semantic evolution

The sense "insufficient, inadequate", which Etymonline gives as the first, is recorded from 1611, in Cotgrave's dictionary, until 1823.^[2][3] The common modern sense, lacking the ability or qualification to do something, appears in 1641,^[2] or by the 1630s according to Etymonline.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "not suitable; not adequate; not proportionate", noting a civil-law sense of a defect of right.^[8] Technical senses followed in logic (1833), medicine, of a valve that does not close properly (1863), and geology, of rock that yields to pressure (1893).^[2] The noun, an incompetent person, is recorded from 1866.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1595 – not legally qualified.^[2][6]
• 1611 – insufficient, inadequate (obsolete by 1823).^[2][3]
• 1641 – lacking the necessary ability or qualification.^[2]
• 1833 – logically inadmissible.^[2]
• 1863 – medicine, of a valve, unable to function.^[2]
• 1866 – noun, an incompetent person.^[2][3]
• 1893 – geology, of rock, yielding under pressure.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lacking the ability or skill needed to do something properly: an incompetent driver.^[9][6][2]
2. (law) Not legally qualified, as to give evidence or to manage one's own affairs.^[9][6][2]
3. (law) Of evidence, not admissible.^[6]
4. (medicine) Of a valve or sphincter, unable to work properly.^[2][7]
5. (geology) Of rock, yielding easily to pressure and becoming deformed.^[9][2]
6. (obsolete, 1611–1823) Insufficient or inadequate.^[2][7][8]

Noun

1. An incompetent person.^[9][6][2]
2. (law) A person who cannot manage his or her own affairs.^[6]

Word family

• incompetence
• incompetently

Related words

• incompetency
• competent
• compete

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins