Patience ends in -ence, one of the workhorse French and Latin abstract suffixes, and it came into English about 1200 from Old French pacience and directly from Latin patientia. The Latin literally means "the quality of suffering," from pati, "to endure, undergo, experience" — the same root as patient, passive, passion and compassion.
That root is worth dwelling on, because it makes the connections in the family unexpectedly bleak. A patient in a hospital is one who suffers; a passion is originally a suffering, which is why the Passion of Christ is called that; compassion is suffering alongside someone. Patience in English has always been about bearing adversity calmly rather than about waiting, and Latin used its version for submissiveness and even humility. Ambrose Bierce defined it as "a minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue."
patience (n.) c. 1200, pacience , "quality of being willing to bear adversities, calm endurance of misfortune, suffering, etc.," from Old French pacience "patience; sufferance, permission" (12c.) and directly from Latin patientia "the quality of suffering or enduring; submission," also "indulgence, leniency; humility; submissiveness; submission to lust;" literally "quality of suffering." It is an abstract noun formed from the adjective patientem (nominative patiens ) "bearing, supporting; suffering, enduring, permitting; tolerant," but also "firm, unyielding, hard," used of persons as well as of navigable rivers, present participle of pati "to endure, undergo, experience," which is of uncertain origin. Patience , n . A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue. [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil's Dictionary," 1911] The meaning "quiet or calmness in waiting for something to happen" is from late 14c. The meaning "constancy in labor or exertion" is attested from 1510s. The meaning "card game for one person" is attested by 1816. Patience - is the Smile's exertion Through the quivering - [Emily Dickinson] also from c. 1200
patience came in through Norman French, and its spelling follows that family's conventions.
How that family writes these sounds
| the noun endings | -age, -ance/-ence, -ment, -ery, -ess, -etvillage, patience, judgment, bakery, princess, pocket |
What gives it away on the page
| -age, -ance/-ence, -ment, -ery, -ess, -et | The workhorse French endings.village, patience, judgment, bakery, princess, pocket |
Placing it without the spelling
| court, church, cuisine, fashion, art, anything a ruler did | Norman Frenchvillage, patience, judgment, princess |
Norman French in the spelling guide · guess another word's family