The noun is derived from Middle Englishpatent(“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 Frenchpatente (modern Frenchpatent), a clipping of Anglo-Normanlettres patentes, Middle Frenchlettres patentes, lettre patente, and Old Frenchpatentes lettres(“document granting an office, privilege, right, etc., or making a decree”) (compare Late Latinpatēns, littera patēns, litterae patentēs).
For the derivation of Anglo-Norman and Middle Frenchpatente(adjective) in lettre patente, see etymology 2 below.
The verb is derived from the noun.
Noun
patent (countable and uncountable, pluralpatents)
(law)
An official document granting an appointment, privilege, or right, or some property or title; letters patent.
(specifically)
(originally) A grant of a monopoly over the manufacture, sale, and use of goods.
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.
(US, historical) A specific grant of ownership of a piece of real property; a land patent.
(by extension) A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained.
(uncountable)Short for patent leather(“a varnished, high-gloss leather typically used for accessories and shoes”).
(figuratively)
A licence or (formal) permission to do something.
A characteristic or quality that one possesses; in particular (hyperbolic) as if exclusively; a monopoly.
(gambling) The combination of seven bets on three selections, offering a return even if only one bet comes in.
Derived terms
Translations
Verb
patent (third-person singular simple presentpatents, present participlepatenting, simple past and past participlepatented)
(transitive, law)
To (successfully) register (a new invention) with a government agency to obtain the sole privilege of its manufacture, sale, and use for a specified period.
(US, historical) To obtain (over a piece of real property) a specific grant of ownership.
(transitive, figuratively) To be closely associated or identified with (something); to monopolize.
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle Englishpatent, patente(“wide open; clear, unobstructed; unlimited; of a document: available for public inspection”)[and other forms], from Anglo-Norman and Middle Frenchpatent (modern Frenchpatent), and directly from their etymon Latinpatēns(“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”).
(baking) Of flour: fine, and consisting mostly of the inner part of the endosperm of the grain from which it is milled.
(medicine) Open, unobstructed; specifically, especially of the ductus arteriosus or foramen ovale in the heart, having not closed as would have happened in normal development.
(medicine, veterinary medicine) Of an infection: in the phase when the organism causing it can be detected by clinical tests.
Explicit and obvious.
Synonyms:express, monosemous, unambiguous; see also Thesaurus:explicit, Thesaurus:obvious
(archaic)
Especially of a document conferring some privilege or right: open to public perusal or use.
Appointed or conferred by letters patent.
(botany) Of a branch, leaf, etc.: outspread; also, spreading at right angles to the axis.
(law) Protected by a legal patent.
Synonym:patented
(by extension, figuratively) To which someone has, or seems to have, a claim or an exclusive claim; also, inventive or particularly suited for.
Derived terms
Translations
References
Further reading
patent on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
Patten, patten, pét-nat
Catalan
Etymology
Borrowed from Latinpatentem, from pateō.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): (Central)[pəˈten]
IPA(key): (Balearic)[pəˈtent]
IPA(key): (Valencian)[paˈtent]
Noun
patentf (pluralpatents)
patent
Further reading
“patent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
“patent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
“patent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
Czech
Pronunciation
IPA(key): [ˈpatɛnt]
Noun
patentm inan
patent(declaration issued by a government to an inventor)
(higher register colloquial, now in most regions uncommon) clever, ingenious, sleek
Declension
Further reading
“patent” in Duden online
“patent” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
“patent” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
Hungarian
Etymology
From GermanPatent(“patent”) or Germanpatent(“clever; ingenious”).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): [ˈpɒtɛnt]
Hyphenation: pa‧tent
Rhymes: -ɛnt
Noun
patent (pluralpatentekorpatentok)
snap fastener, press stud
Synonym:nyomókapocs
(archaic)patent(official document)
Synonym:szabadalom
Declension
or
Derived terms
References
Further reading
patent in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN