Etymologically
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patient

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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
  • 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)