letters patent

English

WOTD – 1 September 2023

Etymology

A royal charter in the form of letters patent issued on 15 March 1827 by George IV to establish a university called King’s College in York, Upper Canada. The institution was later renamed the University of Toronto.

From letters patents (archaic), from Late Middle English lettres patentes, lettres patent (“document or documents granting a privilege, power, or right, making an appointment or decree, etc.”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman lettres patentes (the plural of lettre patente), from Latin litterae patentēs, the plural of littera patēns (so called because they were written on open sheets of parchment), from littera (“letter”) patēns (“accessible, open”) (the present active participle of pateō (“to be accessible or open; to be clear or evident”), from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”)). The English term is analysable as letters ‎ patent (“open, unconcealed; (archaic) open to public perusal”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌlɛtəz ˈpeɪtənt/, (slightly less common) /-ˈpæ-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌlɛtɚz ˈpætənt/, (rare) /-ˈpeɪ-/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtənt, -ætənt
• Hyphenation: let‧ters pat‧ent

Noun

letters patent pl (plural only)

1. (law) A type of legal document in the form of an open letter issued by an authority to direct that some action be taken; to grant a monopoly, right, status, or title to a person or organization; to record a contract.

   Antonym: letters close

   Hypernym: open letter

Usage notes

• The term is typically used in the plural form, even for a single document.
• In British crown colonies, the document often forms that colony's constitutional law along with the royal instructions.

Alternative forms

• letter patent (rare)

Translations

type of legal document in the form of an open letter issued by an authority

• Afrikaans: patentbrief
• Arabic: براءة تمليك ?
• Catalan: carta patent f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 專利特許證／专利特许证 (zhuānlì tèxǔzhèng), 英皇制誥／英皇制诰 (Yīnghuáng zhìgào, literally “decree of the United Kingdom monarch”)

• Dutch: octrooi (nl) n, wapendiploma n (coats of arms)
• Finnish: patentti (fi), patenttikirja, lupakirja (fi), valtakirja (fi) (depending on the nature of the document)
• French: lettres patentes (fr) f pl
• German: Patent (de) n, Patentschrift f, Patenturkunde f
• Hebrew: מכתב הרשאה ?
• Hungarian: pátens (hu), kiváltságlevél (hu), nemeslevél (hu)
• Indonesian: surat paten
• Italian: lettere patenti f
• Japanese: 勅許状 (ちょくきょじょう, chokkyo-jō), 開封特許状 (かいふうとっきょじょう, kaifū tokkyo-jō), 特許状 (とっきょじょう, tokkyo-jō)
• Latin: litterae patentēs f pl
• Macedonian: па́тентна по́тврда f (pátentna pótvrda)
• Malay: surat paten
• Middle English: lettres patentes, patent
• Ottoman Turkish: برات (berât)
• Persian: فرمان علنی
• Polish: patent (pl) m
• Portuguese: carta-patente f
• Russian: патентная гра́мота f (patentnaja grámota)
• Spanish: patente de privilegio m, cédula de privilegio f
• Swedish: kungligt brev n
• Telugu: నామా (nāmā)
• Turkish: patent (tr), berat (tr), imtiyazname

Noun

letters patent

1. plural of letter patent

Further reading

• letters patent on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “letters patent, n.” under “patent, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.