competent
/ˈkɒmpətənt/adjective
competent is spelled C-O-M-P-E-T-E-N-T. The wrong spelling people search most is competant: about 230 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026). Competent is an adjective meaning “Having sufficient skill, knowledge, ability, or qualifications”.
How many letters and syllables are in competent?
| Letters | 9: C-O-M-P-E-T-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.3 times per million words; the 8,036th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, competant, about 230 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell competent?
Competent is spelled C-O-M-P-E-T-E-N-T. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is competent?
Competent appears 8.3 times per million words in written English, the 8,036th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce competent?
- /ˈkɒmpətənt/
Competent has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-competent.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of competent
- more competent comparative
- most competent superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does competent mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Having sufficient skill, knowledge, ability, or qualifications.
He is a competent skier and an expert snowboarder.
- 2
Having jurisdiction or authority over a particular issue or question.
For any disagreements arising from this contract, the competent court shall be the Springfield Circuit Court.
- 3
Adequate for the purpose.
For if they [birds] had been Viviparous, the burthen of their womb, if they had brought forth any competent number at a time, had been ſo big and heavy, that their wings would have failed them, and ſo every body would have had the wit to ca
- 4
Functionally in order; functioning adequately.
a competent sphincter; a competent cervix; a competent immune system
- 5
Permeable to foreign DNA.
- 6
Resistant to deformation or flow.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Competent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | kompetent , zuständig |
| Portuguese | competente |
| Spanish | competente |
| French | compétent |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does competent come from?
From Middle English competent, conpetent, from Old French competent (modern French compétent), from Latin competens, competentem, present participle of competō (“coincide, be equal to, be capable of”). Compare Dutch competent (“competent”), German kompetent (“competent”), Danish kompetent (“competent”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).