Etymology

geopotential

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Today it means: The work that must be done at a given altitude in raising a unit mass from sea level to that altitude against the earth's gravitational field. Full definition →

English potential ← Late Latin potentialis ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?
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The story

  1. Proto-Hellenic*gaya
  2. Ancient Greekγαῖᾰ (gaîă)clip.
  3. Ancient Greekγῆ (gê)
  4. Ancient Greekγεω- (geō-)
  5. Englishgeo-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*pótis
  7. Proto-Italic*potis
  8. Proto-Italic*potēō
  9. Proto-Italic*potēnts
  10. Latinpotēns
  11. Latinpotentia
  12. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  13. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  14. Late Latinpotentialis
  15. Englishpotential
  16. English todaygeopotential

From geo- + potential.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.