different between capable vs competency

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French capable, from Late Latin cap?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ke?p?bl?/

Adjective

capable (comparative more capable, superlative most capable)

1. Able and efficient; having the ability needed for a specific task; having the disposition to do something; permitting or being susceptible to something.

2. (obsolete) Of sufficient capacity or size for holding, containing, receiving or taking in; accessible to. Construed with of, for or an infinitive.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:skillful

Antonyms

• incapable

Derived terms

• capability (noun)

Translations

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “capable”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

Anagrams

• pacable

French

Etymology

From Latin capabilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.pabl/

Adjective

capable (plural capables)

1. able, capable

See also

• cap'

Further reading

• “capable” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

From French compétence.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?mp?t?nsi/

Noun

competency (countable and uncountable, plural competencies)

1. (obsolete) A sufficient supply (of).
   • 1612, John Smith, Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia, in Kupperman 1988, p. 178:

     the next day they returned unsuspected, leaving their confederates to follow, and in the interim, to convay them a competencie of all things they could […]

   • 1892, Ambrose Bierce, Tales of Soldiers and Civilians - A Holy Terror

     […] it would appear that before taking this precaution Mr. Bree must have had the thrift to remove a modest competency of the gold […]

2. (obsolete) A sustainable income.
   • 1915, W.S. Maugham, Of Human Bondage, chapter 116:

     He had heard people speak contemptuously of money: he wondered if they had ever tried to do without it. He knew that the lack made a man petty, mean, grasping; it distorted his character and caused him to view the world from a vulgar angle; when you had to consider every penny, money became of grotesque importance: you needed a competency to rate it at its proper value.

3. The ability to perform some task; competence.
   • 1796, Edmund Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace

     The loan demonstrates, in regard to instrumental resources, the competency of this kingdom to the assertion of the common cause.
4. (law) Meeting specified qualifications to perform.
5. (linguistics) Implicit knowledge of a language’s structure.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:skill

Translations