It was only added to the OED in 2018 after being misused in tech for fifteen or so years.
Originally a performant was someone who'd performed in something (similar to combatant).
Unfortunately it stuck.
Originally a performant was someone who'd performed in something (similar to combatant).
Unfortunately it stuck.
On the scale of new words I dislike, it's nothing compared to how football pundits describe players as 'unplayable' when they're on form.
Mind you, I am still annoyed by people saying "addicting" when they actually mean "addictive", or "concerning" when they mean "a cause for concern".
So I'm really not a good judge. But it still has to go in the circular filing cabinet.
Before performant made it into the OED as an adjective, the nominal form was listed as a "nonce-word" only and didn't merit its own entry; it was kept under performance. It was never widespread in any dialect, unlike modern performant.
-Ant/-ent is not reserved for nouns anyway. There are informants, inhabitants, defendants, and many others, of course, but they can be ignorant, hesitant, pleasant, constant, tolerant, conversant, triumphant, significant, vigilant, dominant, compliant, adamant, reluctant, elegant...
Some of the second group fall into both categories, adjective and noun. Frequently the one form came later than the other. Add performant to that long list.