proficiency
/pɹəˈfɪʃənsi/noun
proficiency is spelled P-R-O-F-I-C-I-E-N-C-Y: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, proficiency means “Ability, skill, competence” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of proficiency is proficiencies.
How many letters and syllables are in proficiency?
| Letters | 11: P-R-O-F-I-C-I-E-N-C-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.7 times per million words; the 16,455th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is proficiency?
Proficiency appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th 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 proficiency?
- /pɹəˈfɪʃənsi/
Proficiency has 4 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-proficiency.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of proficiency
- proficiencies plural
- proficience
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does proficiency mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Ability, skill, competence.
to attain (or to reach) proficiency
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Proficiency in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense ability or skill:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | compétence |
| German | Kompetenz, Können, Begabung, Befähigung, Fähigkeit, Sachverständnis |
| Portuguese | proficiência, capacidade, competência |
| Spanish | suficiencia, pericia, habilidad, aptitud, competencia, proficiencia |
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 proficiency come from?
From proficient or its etymon, Latin prōficiēns (present participle of prōficiō), + -ency.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).