potion

English

Etymology

From Middle English pocioun, borrowed from Old French pocion, from Latin pōtiō (“a drinking”), pōtiōnis, from pōtāre (“to drink”). Displaced native Old English drenċ whence Modern English drench. Doublet of poison.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpəʊ.ʃən/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊ.ʃən/
• (South Asia) IPA^(key): /poːʃən/
  • Homophone: portion (non-rhotic)
• Rhymes: -əʊʃən

Noun

potion (plural potions)

1. A small portion or dose of a liquid which is medicinal, poisonous, or magical.

   He hoped to win the princess's heart by mixing the love potion the witch gave him into her drink.

   • 2025 February, Tyler Colp, “Reinstall: Path of Exile”, in PC Gamer (US), number 392, page 92:

     Everything changed when I found this potion that gives me a huge speed boost whenever I drink it.

Synonyms

• lib (Britain dialectal, Scotland)

Derived terms

• love potion
• magic potion
• passion potion
• potional
• potioner
• potionmaker

Translations

small portion or dose of a liquid which is medicinal, poisonous, or magical — see also elixir,‎ hodgepodge,‎ concoction,‎ apozem,‎ beverage

• Arabic: جُرْعَة f (jurʕa)
• Basque: edabe (eu)
• Bulgarian: елексир m (eleksir)
• Catalan: poció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 藥劑 / 药剂 (zh) (yàojì), 藥水 / 药水 (zh) (yàoshuǐ)

• Czech: lektvar (cs) m
• Dutch: drankje (nl) n, toverdrankje (nl), tinctuur (nl)
• Esperanto: eliksiro
• Finnish: mikstuura (fi) (medicinal), myrkkymalja (poisonous), taikajuoma (fi) (magical), rohto (fi), rohdos (fi)
• French: potion (fr)
• Galician: beberaxe m, apócema f
• German: Trank (de) m, Zaubertrank (de) m (magical), Wundertrank m (miraculous), Gifttrank m (poisonous), Heiltrank (de) m (medicinal), Elixier (de) n
• Greek: φίλτρο (el) n (fíltro)
• Hebrew: שיקוי (he) m (shikuy)
• Hindi: दवाई (hi) f (davāī), अर्क़ m (arq), काढ़ा m (kāṛhā)
• Ido: pociono (io)
• Italian: pozione (it) f
• Japanese: 水薬 (ja) (すいやく, suiyaku, みずぐすり, mizugusuri), ポーション (ja) (ぽーしょん, poshon)
• Korean: 물약 (muryak), 수약(水藥) (suyak)
• Latin: venēficium n (magical), pōtiō f
• Macedonian: напивка f (napivka)
• Malay: posyen
• Māori: waimatarau
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trylledrikk m

  Nynorsk: trylledrikk m, trylledrykk m, trolldrikk m, trolldrykk m

• Polish: mikstura (pl) f, napój leczniczy m (medicinal), napój magiczny m (magical)
• Portuguese: poção f
• Romanian: poțiune (ro) f
• Russian: зе́лье (ru) n (zélʹje), сна́добье (ru) n (snádobʹje)
• Scottish Gaelic: deoch-eiridinn f
• Spanish: poción (es) f, potingue (es) m, bebedizo (es) m, tisana (es) f
• Swedish: trolldryck (sv) c
• Tagalog: gayuma
• Turkish: iksir (tr), posyon
• Ukrainian: зі́лля n (zíllja)
• Vietnamese: nước bùa, thần dược (vi), thuốc nước

Verb

potion (third-person singular simple present potions, present participle potioning, simple past and past participle potioned)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To drug (someone).
   • 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Edward the Second, […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 49, page 561, column 1:

     [T]he yong L. Roger Mortimer, […] hauing corrupted his Keepers, or (as ſome others vvrite) hauing potioned them vvith a ſleepy drinke, eſcaped out of the Tovver of London, getting ouer clearely vvithout any empeachment into France.

Anagrams

• option

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pōtiōnem. Doublet of poison, which was inherited.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔ.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

potion f (plural potions)

1. potion

See also

• philtre

Further reading

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