participent

Participent is not a standard English noun. In most English writing it is a misspelling of the word participant, which refers to a person who takes part in an activity, event, study, or process.

Correct forms in English are participant for a singular person and participants for more than one. The term is widely used in research, events, competitions, and program evaluation. For example: “Each participant completed the survey.” “Five participants attended the workshop.” The word can also appear in compounds such as participant list, participant consent, and participant recruitment.

Etymology and spelling notes: English participant derives from Latin participans, via Old French, with the typical English suffix -ant. Misspellings such as participent arise from confusion with the verb form or from influence of other languages that use -ent in verb endings. The form participent does not function as a standard English noun.

Cognates and related terms: In many languages closely related to English, forms of the word exist with different spellings or pronunciations. A related concept is participation, which denotes the act of taking part, and participant observation, a qualitative research method.

French connection: In French, participent is a present-tense verb form of participer meaning “they participate.” This similarity can contribute to English misspelling among bilingual writers.

See also: participant, participants, participation, participation rate, participant observation. Overall, when writing in English, use participant for a single person and participants for multiple people.