potent

From Middle English potent, borrowed from Latin potens, potentis (“powerful, strong, potent”), present participle of posse (“to be able”), from potis (“able, powerful, originally a lord, master”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpəʊt(ə)nt/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) enPR: pōtʹnt IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊt(ə)nt/, [ˈpʰoʊ̯ʔn̩t], [-n̩ʔ]
• Rhymes: -əʊtənt
• Hyphenation: po‧tent

potent (comparative more potent, superlative most potent)

1. Possessing strength.

   a potent argument

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 173:

     Moreover, her going was a sufficient reason for Hortense accompanying her; and Mazarin hoped as much from her beautiful face as from all the other potent reasons with which he had charged his negotiators.

   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter I, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, →OCLC:

     Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence.

2. Powerfully effective.

   a potent medicine

   • 1906, James George Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, volume 2, page 261:

     When the party reach the bridegroom's house on their return, his mother and the other women come out, and burn a little mustard and human hair in a lamp, the unpleasant smell emitted by these articles being considered potent to drive away evil spirits.

3. Having a sharp or offensive taste.
4. (of a male) Able to procreate.
5. Very powerful or effective.
   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:

     harsh and potent injuries

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Moses once more his potent rod extends.

potent (plural potents)

Potent.

1. (obsolete) A prince; a potentate.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     Cry, havock , kings! back to the stained field, You equal potents

2. (obsolete) A staff or crutch.
3. (heraldry) A heraldic fur formed by a regular tessellation of blue and white T shapes.

• impotent
• (heraldry): counterpotent

• equipotent
• idempotent
• multipotent
• nilpotent
• oligopotent
• omnipotent
• pluripotent
• totipotent
• unipotent
• ventripotent

• potence
• potency
• potentate
• potential
• potentiality
• potentiate
• potenty, potente

• potent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “potent”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• nettop, top ten

Borrowed from Latin potens, potentem.

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /poˈtent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /puˈten/

potent (masculine and feminine plural potents)

1. powerful
2. potent (capable of sexual intercourse)

• “potent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Ultimately from Latin potens. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): /poːˈtɛnt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: po‧tent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

potent (not comparable)

1. (of males) capable of procreation, potent

• impotent

• potentaat
• potentiaal
• potentie
• potentieel

• IPA^(key): /poˈtɛnt/

• Audio

  (file)

potent (strong nominative masculine singular potenter, comparative potenter, superlative am potentesten)

1. potent

• impotent
• präpotent

• “potent” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “potent” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

pōtent

1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of pōtō

• potente

Borrowed from Latin potens, potentis.

• IPA^(key): /pɔːˈtɛnt/, /ˈpɔːtɛnt/

potent (plural potentes)

1. (chiefly Late Middle English) staff, crutch

• English: potent

• “potent(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Borrowed from Latin potens, potentem.

• IPA^(key): /poˈtent/

potent m or n (feminine singular potentă, masculine plural potenți, feminine and neuter plural potente)

1. (literary) potent, strong, vigorous, virile

• puternic
• potență
• putință
• putea
• putere

potent

1. potent (capable of sexual intercourse)
2. potent (powerfully effective)

• potens
• potential

• potent in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• potent in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• potent in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)