Etymologically
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incompetent

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ɪnˈkɒmpətənt/[1]

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

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