proficient

English

Etymology

From Latin proficiens, present participle of proficere (“to go forward, advance, make progress, succeed, be profitable or useful”), from pro (“forth, forward”) + facere (“to make, do”); see fact.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈfɪʃ.ənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɹoʊˈfɪʃ.ənt/, /pɹəˈfɪʃ.ənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪʃənt

Adjective

proficient (comparative more proficient, superlative most proficient)

1. Good at something; skilled; fluent; practiced, especially in relation to a task or skill.

   He was a proficient writer with an interest in human nature.

   • 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:

     By constant playing and experimenting with these he learned to tie rude knots, and make sliding nooses; and with these he and the younger apes amused themselves. What Tarzan did they tried to do also, but he alone originated and became proficient.

Synonyms

• (good at): skilled, fluent, practiced

Translations

skilled

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bikol Central: tatao (bcl)
• Bulgarian: умел (bg) (umel), изкусен (bg) (izkusen), опитен (bg) (opiten)
• Catalan: perit (ca), capaç (ca), versat (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 熟練的／熟练的 (zh) (shúliàn), 諳練的／谙练的 (zh) (ānliàn), 嫻熟的／娴熟的 (zh) (xiánshú), 熟嫻的／熟娴的 (zh) (shúxián), 純熟的／纯熟的 (zh) (chúnshú)

• Dutch: geoefend (nl), competent (nl), bekwaam (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: taitava (fi); sujuva (fi) (of language)
• French: compétent (fr)
• German: tüchtig (de), fähig (de), kompetent (de), befähigt (de), bewandert (de), erfahren (de), sachkundig (de), geübt (de), geschickt (de)
• Hindi: प्रवीण (hi) (pravīṇ)
• Icelandic: fær (is), snjall (is)
• Italian: competente (it), esperto (it), proficuo (it)
• Japanese: 熟練な (ja) (じゅくれんな, jukuren na), 上手な (ja) (じょうずな, jōzu na)
• Kazakh: жетік (jetık), білікті (bılıktı)
• Manx: aghtal
• Maori: kaiaka, matatau
• Norwegian: flink (no)
• Polish: biegły (pl)
• Portuguese: proficiente (pt), competente (pt), perito (pt)
• Russian: уме́лый (ru) (umélyj), иску́сный (ru) (iskúsnyj), компете́нтный (ru) (kompeténtnyj)
• Spanish: competente (es)
• Swedish: sakkunnig (sv), erfaren (sv)
• Tagalog: dalubhasa
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: becerikli (tr), ehliyetli (tr), kabiliyetli (tr), mahir (tr), mütehassıs (tr), usta (tr), uzman (tr), yeterli (tr)
• Uyghur: پۇختا (puxta)

Noun

proficient (plural proficients)

1. An expert.
   • 1880, Francis John Bellew, Memoirs of a Griffin; Or, A Cadet's First Year in India, page 202:

     The colonel now addressed me, […] adding, "I hope we shall send you to your regiment up the country quite a proficient, and calculated to reflect credit on your instructors in the Zubberdust Bullumteers."

   • 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 10, in Billy Budd‎^[1], London: Constable & Co.:

     Why not subpoena as well the clerical proficients?

Synonyms

• (expert): expert; see also Thesaurus:skilled person

Translations

expert

• Bulgarian: специалист (bg) m (specialist)
• Dutch: expert (nl)
• Finnish: taituri (fi)
• German: Fachmann (de) m, Fachfrau (de) f, Meister (de) m, Meisterin (de) f, Experte (de) m, Profi (de) m, Sachkundiger m
• Hindi: प्रवीण (hi) m (pravīṇ)
• Italian: esperto (it) m
• Malayalam: നിപുണൻ (ml) m (nipuṇaṉ)
• Portuguese: perito (pt) m
• Spanish: experto (es) m, perito (es) m
• Turkish: usta (tr)

Related terms

• profit
• profitability
• profitable
• profiteer
• proficiency

Further reading

• “proficient”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “proficient”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Latin

Verb

prōficient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of prōficiō