patent

patent · noun, verb¹

1. Middle French · derived frompatente
2. Old French · derived frompatentes lettres“document granting an office, privilege, right, etc., or making a decree”
3. Middle French · derived fromlettres patentes
4. Anglo-Norman · derived fromlettres patentes
5. Middle French · derived frompatente
6. Middle English · inherited frompatent“document granting an office, property, right, title, etc.; document granting permission, licence; papal indulgence, pardon”
7. English todaypatent

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.

patent · adjective²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*peth₂-“to spread out; to fly”
2. Latin · derived frompatēns“open; accessible, passable; evident, manifest; exposed, vulnerable”
3. Middle French · derived frompatent
4. Middle English · inherited frompatent
5. English todaypatent

From Middle English patent, patente (“wide open; clear, unobstructed; unlimited; of a document: available for public inspection”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patent (modern French patent), and directly from their etymon Latin patēns (“open; accessible, passable; evident, manifest; exposed, vulnerable”), the present active participle of pateō (“to be open; to be accessible, attainable; to be exposed, vulnerable; of frontiers or land: to extent, increase”), from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”).

Words from the same roots