potable
/ˈpoʊtəbəl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.83 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "When solar beams / Parch thirsty human veins, the damask'd meads, / Unforc'd display ten thousand painted flow'rs / Useful in potables."
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpoʊtəbəl/
- British English: /ˈpəʊtəbəl/