potable
adjEtymology
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.
Definitions
Good for drinking without fear of waterborne disease or poisoning.
- 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.
Any drinkable liquid
Any drinkable liquid; a beverage.
- When solar beams / Parch thirsty human veins, the damask'd meads, / Unforc'd display ten thousand painted flow'rs / Useful in potables.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for potable. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA