The story
- Latin · derived fromposse“be able”
- Old French · derived frompussant
- Anglo-Norman · derived frompuissant
- Middle French · derived frompuissant
- Middle English · inherited frompuissaunt
- English todaypuissant
From Middle English puissaunt, from Middle French puissant, poissant, Anglo-Norman puissant, Old French pussant, et al., present participle of pooir (“to be able”), ultimately from Latin posse (“be able”).
Words from the same roots
Latinposse all →
power
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.