patient

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpeɪ.ʃᵊnt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pacient,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French pacient,^[4][5] and directly from Latin patiēns (“bearing, suffering, enduring”),^[4][3] present participle of patī (“to suffer”).^[3][5] The noun is from the Old French noun use of the adjective.^[4][3] It is related to patience, passion and passive.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Enduring pain or trouble calmly: about 1320–40 in the OED,^[6] about 1350 in Barnhart,^[2] and the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[4]

Semantic evolution

“Slow to anger, forbearing” is from 1377,^[6] the late 14th century in Etymonline,^[4] and “calmly expectant, not hasty” from 1382.^[6] The noun, a sick or injured person under medical treatment, is from the late 14th century; in Middle English it could also be anyone who suffered patiently.^[4] Persevering in spite of difficulty is from 1590.^[6] “Undergoing the action of another, passive”, correlative to agent, is from about 1611,^[6] and grammarians use patient for the person or thing affected by an action (1939).^[6] In old Scots a patient of death was a death agony.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1320–40 – enduring calmly.^[6]
• 1377 – forbearing.^[6]
• 1382 – calmly expectant.^[6]
• late 14th century – noun, a person under medical care.^[4]
• 1590 – persevering.^[6]
• c. 1611 – passive, acted upon.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Able to bear delay, trouble or suffering calmly.
2. Tolerant and understanding.
3. Steady and persevering: patient research.

Noun

1. A person receiving medical care or treatment.
2. (grammar) The person or thing that undergoes an action.

Word family

• patiently
• patientless
• patientness
• overpatient
• unpatient
• superpatient
• inpatient
• outpatient

Related words

• passion
• passionate
• passive
• passivity
• patience
• compatible

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)