impotent

English

Etymology

From Old French impotent, from Latin impotēns, from in- (expresses negation) + potēns (“powerful”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪm.pə.tənt/, /ˈɪm.pə.tɪnt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

impotent (comparative more impotent, superlative most impotent)

1. Lacking physical strength or vigor; weak

   Synonyms: feeble, puny, weak

2. Lacking in power, as to act effectively; helpless

   Synonyms: helpless, powerless

   • 1984, Freeman J. Dyson, Weapons and Hope:

     Technology without morality is barbarous; morality without technology is impotent

3. Incapable of sexual intercourse, often because of an inability to achieve or sustain an erection, having impotentia coeundi.
   • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 158:

     A person smeared with the excrement of a mouse was rendered impotent, according to Pliny the Elder.

4. (of a male) Sterile
5. (obsolete) Lacking self-restraint

   Synonym: incontinent

   • a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 444:

     Then, impotent of tongue (her ſilence broke) / Thus turbulent in rattling tone ſhe ſpoke.

Antonyms

• potent

Derived terms

• impotently
• impotentness
• nonimpotent
• self-impotent

Related terms

• impotence

Translations

lacking physical strength or vigor; weak

• Bulgarian: слаб (bg) (slab), безсилен (bg) (bezsilen)
• Catalan: impotent (ca)
• Esperanto: senpova
• French: impuissant (fr) m
• Hindi: नामर्द (hi) m (nāmard), नपुंसक (hi) m (napunsak)
• Italian: debole (it)
• Māori: paraheahea, kahakore, ngoikore
• Russian: бесси́льный (ru) (bessílʹnyj), сла́бый (ru) (slábyj)
• Spanish: impotente (es)
• Ukrainian: безси́лий (uk) (bezsýlyj), безси́льний (uk) (bezsýlʹnyj)

lacking in power, as to act effectively; helpless

• Bulgarian: безпомощен (bg) (bezpomošten)
• Catalan: impotent (ca)
• Esperanto: senpova
• Hindi: नामर्द (hi) m (nāmard), नपुंसक (hi) m (napunsak)
• Italian: impotente (it)
• Russian: бесси́льный (ru) (bessílʹnyj), сла́бый (ru) (slábyj), беспо́мощный (ru) (bespómoščnyj)
• Spanish: impotente (es)
• Ukrainian: безси́лий (uk) (bezsýlyj), безси́льний (uk) (bezsýlʹnyj)

incapable of sexual intercourse

• Bikol:

  Central Bikol: bawas

• Bulgarian: импотентен (impotenten)
• Catalan: impotent (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不舉 / 不举 (zh) (bùjǔ), 不行 (zh) (bùxíng)

• Czech: impotentní (cs)
• Dutch: impotent (nl)
• Esperanto: impotenta
• Estonian: suguvõimetu, impotentne
• German: impotent (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἄστυτος (ástutos)

• Hindi: नामर्द (hi) m (nāmard), नपुंसक (hi) m (napunsak)
• Italian: impotente (it)
• Russian: импоте́нтный (ru) (impoténtnyj), страда́ющий импотенцией (stradájuščij impotencijej)
• Swedish: impotent (sv)
• Tagalog: limawon
• Ukrainian: імпоте́нтний (impoténtnyj)

sterile

• Bulgarian: импотентен (impotenten)
• Catalan: impotent (ca)
• Hindi: नामर्द (hi) m (nāmard), नपुंसक (hi) m (napunsak)
• Russian: стери́льный (ru) (sterílʹnyj)

Noun

impotent (plural impotents)

1. A man who has erectile dysfunction

   Synonym: wet noodle

   Antonym: priapist

2. An impotent or powerless person

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin impotentem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [im.puˈte̞n]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [im.poˈtent]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [im.puˈten]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [im.poˈten]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

impotent m or f (masculine and feminine plural impotents)

1. (medicine) impotent
2. impotent, powerless, helpless

Further reading

• “impotent”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin impotens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪm.poːˈtɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: im‧po‧tent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Adjective

impotent (not comparable)

1. impotent (lacking force or vigor)

   Synonym: krachteloos

   Antonyms: potent, krachtig

2. (sexuality, of males) impotent (sexually incapable)

   Antonyms: potent, vruchtbaar

   Hypernyms: steriel, onvruchtbaar

Declension

Declension of impotent
uninflected	impotent
inflected	impotente
comparative	—
		positive
predicative/adverbial		impotent
indefinite	m./f. sing.	impotente
	n. sing.	impotent
	plural	impotente
definite		impotente
partitive		impotents

Derived terms

• impotentheid

Related terms

• impotentie

Descendants

• → Indonesian: impoten

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin impotens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.pɔ.tɑ̃/
• Homophone: impotents

Adjective

impotent (feminine impotente, masculine plural impotents, feminine plural impotentes)

1. infirm, disabled
2. impotent

Related terms

• impuissant
• potentiel

Further reading

• “impotent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪmpotɛnt/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adjective

impotent (strong nominative masculine singular impotenter, comparative impotenter, superlative am impotentesten)

1. impotent

   Antonym: potent

Declension

Positive forms of impotent number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist impotent sie ist impotent es ist impotent sie sind impotent strong declension (without article) nominative impotenter impotente impotentes impotente genitive impotenten impotenter impotenten impotenter dative impotentem impotenter impotentem impotenten accusative impotenten impotente impotentes impotente weak declension (with definite article) nominative der impotente die impotente das impotente die impotenten genitive des impotenten der impotenten des impotenten der impotenten dative dem impotenten der impotenten dem impotenten den impotenten accusative den impotenten die impotente das impotente die impotenten mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein impotenter eine impotente ein impotentes (keine) impotenten genitive eines impotenten einer impotenten eines impotenten (keiner) impotenten dative einem impotenten einer impotenten einem impotenten (keinen) impotenten accusative einen impotenten eine impotente ein impotentes (keine) impotenten Comparative forms of impotent number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist impotenter sie ist impotenter es ist impotenter sie sind impotenter strong declension (without article) nominative impotenterer impotentere impotenteres impotentere genitive impotenteren impotenterer impotenteren impotenterer dative impotenterem impotenterer impotenterem impotenteren accusative impotenteren impotentere impotenteres impotentere weak declension (with definite article) nominative der impotentere die impotentere das impotentere die impotenteren genitive des impotenteren der impotenteren des impotenteren der impotenteren dative dem impotenteren der impotenteren dem impotenteren den impotenteren accusative den impotenteren die impotentere das impotentere die impotenteren mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein impotenterer eine impotentere ein impotenteres (keine) impotenteren genitive eines impotenteren einer impotenteren eines impotenteren (keiner) impotenteren dative einem impotenteren einer impotenteren einem impotenteren (keinen) impotenteren accusative einen impotenteren eine impotentere ein impotenteres (keine) impotenteren Superlative forms of impotent number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist am impotentesten sie ist am impotentesten es ist am impotentesten sie sind am impotentesten strong declension (without article) nominative impotentester impotenteste impotentestes impotenteste genitive impotentesten impotentester impotentesten impotentester dative impotentestem impotentester impotentestem impotentesten accusative impotentesten impotenteste impotentestes impotenteste weak declension (with definite article) nominative der impotenteste die impotenteste das impotenteste die impotentesten genitive des impotentesten der impotentesten des impotentesten der impotentesten dative dem impotentesten der impotentesten dem impotentesten den impotentesten accusative den impotentesten die impotenteste das impotenteste die impotentesten mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein impotentester eine impotenteste ein impotentestes (keine) impotentesten genitive eines impotentesten einer impotentesten eines impotentesten (keiner) impotentesten dative einem impotentesten einer impotentesten einem impotentesten (keinen) impotentesten accusative einen impotentesten eine impotenteste ein impotentestes (keine) impotentesten

Further reading

• “impotent”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)
• “impotent” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

Middle French

Adjective

impotent m (feminine singular impotente, masculine plural impotens, feminine plural impotentes)

1. impotent (incapable of sexual intercourse)

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Italic *n̥-

Latin in-

Proto-Indo-European *pótis

Proto-Italic *potis

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti

Proto-Italic *-ējō

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ēō

Proto-Italic *potēō

Proto-Italic *potēnts

Latin potēns

Latin impotēnslbor.

Polish impotent

Learned borrowing from Latin impotēns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /imˈpɔ.tɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔtɛnt
• Syllabification: im‧po‧tent

Noun

impotent m pers

1. (pathology) impotent (man who has erectile dysfunction)
2. (derogatory) impotent (person incapable of taking a particular type of action that the situation requires)

   Synonym: eunuch

Declension

Declension of impotent

	singular	plural
nominative	impotent	impotenci, impotenty1
genitive	impotenta	impotentów
dative	impotentowi	impotentom
accusative	impotenta	impotentów
instrumental	impotentem	impotentami
locative	impotencie	impotentach
vocative	impotencie	impotenci

¹Deprecative.

Related terms

noun

• impotencja

Further reading

• “impotent”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “impotent”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Italic *n̥-

Latin in-

Proto-Indo-European *pótis

Proto-Italic *potis

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti

Proto-Italic *-ējō

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ēō

Proto-Italic *potēō

Proto-Italic *potēnts

Latin potēns

Latin impotenslbor.

French impotentbor.

Romanian impotent

Borrowed from French impotent, a learned borrowing from Latin impotens.

Adjective

impotent m or n (feminine singular impotentă, masculine plural impotenți, feminine/neuter plural impotente)

1. impotent

Declension

Declension of impotent

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	impotent		impotentă	impotenți	impotente
	definite	impotentul		impotenta	impotenții	impotentele
genitive- dative	indefinite	impotent		impotente	impotenți	impotente
	definite	impotentului		impotentei	impotenților	impotentelor

Further reading

• “impotent”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Swedish

Adjective

impotent (not comparable)

1. impotent (incapable of sexual intercourse due to being unable to get an erection or the like)

   Antonym: potent

2. impotent (powerless)

Declension

Inflection of impotent

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	impotent	—	—
neuter singular	impotent	—	—
plural	impotenta	—	—
masculine plural2	impotente	—	—
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	impotente	—	—
all	impotenta	—	—

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Related terms

• impotens

References

• “impotent”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “impotent”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)