entry
power
/ˈpaʊər/Ability, strength, control, or energy to act
From Latin pot (powerful).
from Latin potis "powerful" (from PIE root *poti- "powerful; lord"). Whatever some hypocritical ministers of government...
from Vulgar Latin *potere (source also of Spanish poder , Italian potere )
+1 more sourcefrom Anglo-French pouair , Old French povoir , noun use of the infinitive, "to be able," earlier podir (9c.)
from Middle English power, poer
Word Ancestry
from Latin potis "powerful" (from PIE root *poti- "powerful; lord"). Whatever some hypocritical ministers of government...
from Vulgar Latin *potere (source also of Spanish poder , Italian potere )
+1 more sourcefrom Anglo-French pouair , Old French povoir , noun use of the infinitive, "to be able," earlier podir (9c.)
from Middle English power, poer
Long before power meant electricity, it described the simple, muscular fact of being able to do something. Latin speakers used potis for “powerful,” and its descendant *potēre—“to be able”—eventually traveled through French before arriving in English as power around 1300. That same family produced potent and potentate: one means power concentrated in a substance, the other power concentrated in a ruler. English then kept enlarging the suitcase: by the 1720s, power could mean the rate at which work is done, and by 1896 it could flow through wires. Even horsepower, coined in 1805 under James Watt’s influence, measures power with an animal that was actually less efficient than the official unit suggests—so every electric motor carries a small, historical horse inside it.
The Story
Long before power meant electricity, it described the simple, muscular fact of being able to do something. Latin speakers used potis for “powerful,” and its descendant *potēre—“to be able”—eventually traveled through French before arriving in English as power around 1300. That same family produced potent and potentate: one means power concentrated in a substance, the other power concentrated in a ruler. English then kept enlarging the suitcase: by the 1720s, power could mean the rate at which work is done, and by 1896 it could flow through wires. Even horsepower, coined in 1805 under James Watt’s influence, measures power with an animal that was actually less efficient than the official unit suggests—so every electric motor carries a small, historical horse inside it.
Modern Usage
A humorous slang verb phrase meaning to defecate and then shower without leaving the bathroom.
Popularized by: Urban Dictionary users
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entry for “power”
Kin & Kindred
From 'pot'·powerful; able; possessing authority
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary