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PlainSpell

patient

pa·tient/ˈpeɪ̯ʃənt/adjective, noun

patient is spelled P-A-T-I-E-N-T: 7 letters and 2 syllables (pa·tient). It appears 59 times per million words in written English, the 1,758th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “patience vs patient” about 4,400 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, patient means “Willing to wait if necessary; not losing one's temper while waiting” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in patient?

Letters7: P-A-T-I-E-N-T
Syllables2: pa·tient
In writing59 times per million words; the 1,758th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 common is patient?

Patient appears 59 times per million words in written English, the 1,758th 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 patient?

  • /ˈpeɪ̯ʃənt/
  • [ˈpʰeɪ̯ʃənt] ~ [ˈpʰeɪ̯ʃn̩t]
  • British /ˈpɛjʃənt/

Patient has 2 syllables, split pa·tient in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-patient.ogg, En-us-patient.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with patient

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

patience vs patient4,400 G

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of patient

  • more patient comparative
  • most patient superlative
  • patients plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does patient mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Willing to wait if necessary; not losing one's temper while waiting.

    Be patient: your friends will arrive in a few hours.

  2. 2

    Constant in pursuit or exertion; persevering; calmly diligent.

    patient endeavour

  3. 3

    obsoletePhysically able to suffer or bear.

noun

  1. 1

    A person or animal that receives health care from a doctor, nurse, dentist, allied health practitioner, or other person educated in health care.

    Hello, is your practice currently accepting new patients? I'd like to become a patient there if so.

  2. 2

    The noun or noun phrase that is semantically on the receiving end of a verb's action.

    The subject of a passive verb is usually a patient.

  3. 3

    One who, or that which, is passively affected; a passive recipient.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate patient?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of patient: P, pt.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Patient in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpatient (not losing one's temper while waiting), patiente, malade (someone who receives treatment from a doctor)
Germangeduldig (not losing one's temper while waiting), Patient, Patientin, Kranker, Kranke (someone who receives treatment from a doctor), Patiens (linguistics)
Portuguesepaciente (not losing one's temper while waiting)
Spanishpaciente, pacienzudo (not losing one's temper while waiting)

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 patient come from?

From Middle English pacient, from Middle French patient, from Old French pacient, from Latin patiens, present participle of patior (“to suffer, endure”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hate, hurt”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after patient