# patent

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈpeɪtənt/ · frequency rank #5,345

## Definitions
1. An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.
2. A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods.
3. A declaration issued by a government agency that the inventor of a new invention has the sole privilege of making, selling, or using the claimed invention for a specified period.
4. A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.
5. A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained.
6. Ellipsis of patent leather (“a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for accessories and shoes”).
7. A licence or (formal) permission to do something.
8. A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular (hyperbolic) as if exclusively; a monopoly.
9. The combination of seven bets on three selections, offering a return even if only one bet comes in.

## Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English patent (“document granting an office, property, right, title, etc.; document granting permission, licence; papal indulgence, pardon”) [and other forms], which is either:
* a clipping of lettre patent, lettres patente, lettres patentes [and other forms]; or
* directly from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (modern French patent), a clipping of Anglo-Norman lettres patentes, Middle French lettres patentes, lettre patente, and Old French patentes lettres (“document granting an office, privilege, right, etc., or making a decree”) (compare Late Latin patēns, littera patēns, litterae patentēs).
For the derivation of Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (adjective) in lettre patente, see etymology 2 below.
The verb is derived from the noun.

## Easily confused with
- **Patna** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/patent-vs-patna)
- **Paton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/patent-vs-paton)
- **potent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/patent-vs-potent)
- **patten** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/patent-vs-patten)
- **patina** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/patent-vs-patina)
- **patient** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/patent-vs-patient)
- **payment** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/patent-vs-payment)
- **Paterno** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/patent-vs-paterno)
- **patently** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/patent-vs-patently)
- **pant** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pant-vs-patent)
- **pate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pate-vs-patent)
- **paint** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/paint-vs-patent)
- **Patel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/patel-vs-patent)
- **Paget** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/paget-vs-patent)
- **parent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parent-vs-patent)
- **parents** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parents-vs-patent)
- **pageant** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pageant-vs-patent)

## Common misspellings (9)
`aptent`, `paetnt`, `patennt`, `patentt`, `patetn`, `patnet`, `pattent`, `ppatent`, `ptaent`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/patent