Revised as
14 Dec 2022
If one looks strictly at patience as a state of mind and patients in its noun form, it’s an easy explanation. The two words become more similar when patient as an adjective is in use. But still . . . patience will always be a noun and never used as an adjective. Mind the distinction.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
If you found this post on “Patience versus Patients” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
| Patience | Patients |
|---|---|
.jpg)
Fly Fishing on the Metolius River, Oregon, is courtesy of OSU Special Collections & Archives: Commons and is under no restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons. — Fly fishing requires patience. |
Construction Equipment and Management of a General Hospital by Donald James Mackintosh was originally published by William Hodge Edinburgh in 1916, and is now courtesy of Wellcome Trust under the CC BY 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — A double row of patients in this London hospital ward. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun; Proper noun
Plural for noun: patience |
Morpheme: patient
Adjective; Noun Plural for the noun: patients |
| Noun: The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset [Chiefly British] Solitaire An ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay Quiet, steady perseverance
Rumex patientia, a.k.a., patience dock of the buckwheat family, whose leaves are often used as a vegetable [Obsolete] Leave
Proper noun: |
Adjective: Able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious Noun: [Linguistics] The semantic role of a noun phrase denoting something that is affected or acted upon by the action of a verb |
| Examples: | |
| Noun: You can find bargains if you have the patience to sift through the dross. Mom is playing a game of patience to calm her nerves. Helen lost the last of her patience when her three-year-old broke yet another egg. Tom has such patience with how slowly Paulie learns. I haven’t got the patience to work puzzles. Your antics are weighing on my patience, young man. Proper noun: Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller is an historical novel exploring lesbian love. In Georgette Heyer’s The Nonesuch, the character named Patience is so sweet and forgiving. |
Adjective: Be patient, your time will come. He is quite patient with the boy. Noun: They’ve moved the patients to the third floor. We have too many patients. You’ll have to direct ambulances to Cedar Sinai. Doctor, your next patient is in Room B. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Noun: superpatience | Adjective: overpatient, patientless, quasi-patient Adverb: patiently Noun: patient, patientness |
| History of the Word: | |
| Both are Middle English from the Old French, which is from the Latin patientia, which is from patient- meaning suffering, from the verb pati. | |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Patience versus Patients
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: patience, patients
Harbeck, James. “I Only Wanted to Explain This.” Sesquiotic. 16 Apr 2014. Web. n.d. <http://sesquiotic.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/i-only-wanted-to-explain-this/>, as an adverb.
Pinterest Photo Credits
U.S. Army Veterinary Personnel Treat Goats is by Sgt. Albert Eaddy, U.S. Army and is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
