喜樂美語

One way to picture it: someone stands in front of a task and is *adequate to it* — they have enough skill, enough knowledge, enough authority to meet what the task demands. Not brilliance, not genius: sufficiency. The person and the job fit each other.

一個人站在一件事情前面，而他「夠格」處理它——手上的技術、知識或權力，剛好足以應付這件事的要求。注意這不是「很厲害」的意思，而是「合得上、接得住」。competence 的拉丁字根 competere 有「相合、相稱」的味道，這個「相稱」的感覺一直留在字裡：不是誰比較優秀，而是這個人跟這件事對得上，交給他做不會出事。所以說某人有 competence，是說他做得來、可以放心交付，而不是說他做得特別出色。

From the word’s history

Via Middle French compétence from Late Latin competentia, from Latin competere "to be suitable, to be adequate to, to meet" (com- "together" + petere "to seek, to aim at"). The idea of two things meeting and being suitable to each other survives in the modern sense of being adequate to a task — and equally in the legal sense of a court being the suitable body to hear a case.

competence 來自晚期拉丁文 competentia，動詞 competere 原意是「相合、相稱、足以應付」（com- 一起 + petere 追求、朝向）。兩樣東西朝同一個方向而彼此相合——這個古老的「相稱」感，同時解釋了現代的兩個用法：一個人「相稱於」一份工作，就是有能力；一個法院「相稱於」一個案件，就是有管轄權。所以能力與管轄權不是兩個無關的意思，而是同一個「這件事該歸他、他接得住」的畫面，一個用在人身上，一個用在機關身上。

Wiktionary (competence, from Late Latin competentia < competere); consistent with Online Etymology Dictionary

登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

容易混在一起的字在訂閱裡。容易混在一起的字需要訂閱帳號。

同家族的字

複數 competences / competencies

原始詞典資料6 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

competencenoun/ˈkɒm.pə.təns/

  • 1

    The quality or state of being competent, i.e. able or suitable for a general role.

    • Teachers are now required to teach intercultural communicative competence.
  • 2

    The quality or state of being able or suitable for a particular task; the quality or state of being competent for a particular task or skill.

  • 3

    human-scienceslinguisticssciencesThe system of linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers of a language, as opposed to its actual use in concrete situations (performance), cf. linguistic competence.

  • 4

    datedA sustainable income.

    • Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, / Lie in three words — health, peace, and competence.
    • “money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to give it. Beyond a competence, it can afford no real satisfaction, as far as mere self is concerned.”
  • 5

    governmentlawpoliticsthe legal authority to deal with a matter.

    • The bill was denied royal assent because the Scottish Parliament does not have legislative competence on the bill's matter.
    • K C Wheare's definition of federalism requires that two governments be independent and co-ordinate within their own spheres, generally set out by the division of competences codified in a constitution, which is supreme.
  • 6

    geographygeologynatural-sciencesThe degree to which a rock is resistant to deformation or flow.

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。