Etymology

power

pow·er
P3O1W4E1R1

Today it means: The ability to do or undergo something. Full definition →

Middle English power ← Anglo-Norman poer ← Old French pooir
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power · noun, verb, adjective, interjection1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pótis
  2. Proto-Italic*potis
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₁es-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₁ésti
  5. Proto-Indo-European*bʰuH-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*bʰúHt
  7. Proto-Italic*som
  8. Proto-Italic*possom
  9. Latinposse
  10. Vulgar Latinpotēre
  11. Old Frenchpooir
  12. Anglo-Normanpoer
  13. Middle Englishpower
  14. English todaypower

From Middle English power, poer, from Old French poeir, from Vulgar Latin potēre, from Latin posse, whence English potent. Compare French pouvoir. Displaced the native Old English anweald.

Power · noun2

From power.

Power · proper noun3

  1. Middle English · inherited frompovre“poor”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromPoer, Pouer, Power
  3. Old French · derived fromPoer, Pohier
  4. English todayPower

* Habitational, from Old French Poer, Pohier, Middle English Poer, Pouer, Power, after the Pays de Poix (Picardy). * From Middle English povre (“poor”) as a nickname for a poor man or ironically a miser. Compare Poor.

Words from the same roots

Latinposse all →

puissant

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.