potent
/ˈpəʊtənt/POH-tuhnt
/ˈpoʊtənt/POH-tuhnt
Meaningpowerful
Common meaning: powerful
- potto be able; powerfulLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1408 · scan
- entadjective ending: being or doing
Journey through time
- Aryan root · reconstructed√PA‘feed, nourish, protect’No written record; from Skeat’s list of Aryan roots, no. 186, p. 736 · scan
- Latinpossum; potēns‘to be able’
- Englishpotent‘powerful’ · today
pot also in: potentialpossibleomnipotent
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Latin possum; potēns ‘to be able; powerful’.
Did you know: our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry possum, p. 1408 · dictionary scan
Roots
- possum; potēns Latin “to be able; powerful”
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app