potable

English

WOTD – 22 March 2021

Etymology

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English potable (“drinkable, potable”), from Middle French, Old French potable (modern French potable (“drinkable, potable”)), and from its etymon Late Latin pōtābilis (“drinkable, potable”), from Latin pōtāre (“to drink”) + -bilis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a capacity or worth of being acted upon). Pōtāre is the present active infinitive of pōtō (“to drink”), from Proto-Italic *pōtos, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₃- (“to drink”).

The English word is cognate with Catalan potable, Italian potabile, Spanish potable.

The noun is derived from the adjective.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpəʊtəbəl/, (non-standard) /ˈpɒt-/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊtəbəl/, (non-standard) /ˈpɑt-/
• Homophone: pottable (non-standard)
• (South Asia) IPA^(key): /poː.ʈə.bᵻl/
  • Homophone: portable (non-rhotic)
• Hyphenation: pot‧a‧ble

Adjective

potable (comparative more potable, superlative most potable)

1. (formal) Good for drinking without fear of waterborne disease or poisoning.

   Synonyms: drinkable, drinkworthy

   Hypernyms: ingestible, swallowable, consumable

   Coordinate terms: comestible, edible, eatable, eatworthy

   potable water

   The water from this river should not be considered potable without disinfection: you may be OK if you drink it raw, but you're gambling if you do so.

Derived terms

• impotable
• nonpotable
• potability
• potabilize
• potable gold
• potableness
• unpotable

Translations

good for drinking — see also drinkable

• Arabic: صالِحٌ لِلشُّرْب (ṣāliḥun li-š-šurb)
• Asturian: potable (ast)
• Belarusian: пі́тны (pítny)
• Bulgarian: питеен (piteen)
• Catalan: potable (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可飲用的 / 可饮用的 (zh) (kě yǐnyòng de)

• Czech: pitný (cs)
• Dutch: drinkbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: trinkebla
• Finnish: juomakelpoinen, juotava (fi)
• French: potable (fr)

  Middle French: potable

  Old French: potable

• Galician: potable (gl)
• Georgian: სასმელი (ka) (sasmeli), სასმელად ვარგისი (sasmelad vargisi)
• German: trinkbar (de)
• Greek: πόσιμος (el) m (pósimos)
• Haitian Creole: potab
• Hindi: पेय (hi) (pey)
• Hungarian: iható (hu)
• Italian: potabile (it)
• Latin: poculentus, pōtābilis
• Manx: iuoil, yn-iu
• Middle English: potable
• Norman: potabl'ye (Jersey)
• Occitan: potable (oc)
• Persian: آشامیدنی (fa) (âšâmidani)
• Plautdietsch: drinkjboa
• Polish: pitny (pl)
• Portuguese: potável (pt), bebível (pt)
• Romanian: potabil (ro)
• Russian: питьево́й (ru) (pitʹjevój)
• Serbo-Croatian: pitak (sh), питак
• Spanish: potable (es), bebedizo (es)
• Swedish: drickbar (sv)
• Ukrainian: питни́й (pytnýj)
• Welsh: yfadwy

See also

• drinking water
• tap water

Noun

potable (plural potables)

1. Any drinkable liquid; a beverage.
   • 1708, [John Philips], “(please specify the page)”, in Cyder. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     When solar beams / Parch thirsty human veins, the damask'd meads, / Unforc'd display ten thousand painted flow'rs / Useful in potables.

Derived terms

• potent potable

Translations

drinkable liquid — see beverage

Further reading

• drinking water on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• optable

Asturian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pōtābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /poˈtable/ [poˈt̪a.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: po‧ta‧ble

Adjective

potable (epicene, plural potables)

1. potable (good for drinking)

   Synonym: bebediegu

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin pōtābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [puˈtab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [poˈtab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [poˈta.ble]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [poˈtab.ble]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

potable m or f (masculine and feminine plural potables)

1. potable

Further reading

• “potable”, 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

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin pōtābilis, from Latin potō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔ.tabl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

potable (plural potables)

1. potable
2. (colloquial) OK, passable

   Synonym: correct

   Tu penses quoi de la meuf de ton frère ? Potable, sans plus. ― What do you think about your brother's girlfriend? Alright‚ nothing more.

Further reading

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

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French potable, from Latin pōtābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔˈtaːbəl/, /pɔːˈtaːbəl/

Adjective

potable (rare, Late Middle English)

1. Suitable for drinking; potable.

Descendants

• English: potable

References

• “pō̆tāble, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 22 August 2018.

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pōtābilis.

Adjective

potable m (feminine potable)

1. potable

Declension

	Case	masculine	feminine	neuter
singular	subject	potables	potable	potable
	oblique	potable			potable	potable
plural	subject	potable	potables		potable
	oblique	potables			potables	potable

Descendants

• → Middle English: potable
  • English: potable
• French: potable
• Norman: potabl'ye (Jersey)

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *peh₃-

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Indo-European *ph₃tósder.

▲

Proto-Indo-European *péh₃tinflu.

Proto-Italic *pōtos?

Latin pōtus

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin pōtō

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlis

Latin -bilis

Latin pōtābilislbor.

Spanish potable

Learned borrowing from Latin pōtābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /poˈtable/ [poˈt̪a.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: po‧ta‧ble

Adjective

potable m or f (masculine and feminine plural potables)

1. potable, drinkable

Derived terms

• agua potable
• potabilidad

See also

• comestible

Further reading

• “potable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026

Tagalog

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *peh₃-

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Indo-European *ph₃tósder.

▲

Proto-Indo-European *péh₃tinflu.

Proto-Italic *pōtos?

Latin pōtus

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin pōtō

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlis

Latin -bilis

Latin pōtābilislbor.

Spanish potablebor.

Tagalog potable

Borrowed from Spanish potable, a learned borrowing from Latin pōtābilis.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /poˈtable/ [poˈt̪aː.blɛ]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: po‧ta‧ble

Adjective

potable (Baybayin spelling ᜉᜓᜆᜊ᜔ᜎᜒ)

1. potable; drinkable

   Synonym: maiinom

Related terms

• agwaspotable
• posyon

Further reading

• Cuadrado Muñiz, Adolfo (1972), Hispanismos en el tagalo: diccionario de vocablos de origen español vigentes en esta lengua filipina [Hispanicisms in Tagalog: dictionary of words of Spanish origin still used in this Philippine language], Madrid: Oficina de Educación Iberoamericana [Office of Ibero-American Education], page 470