puissant
English
WOTD – 9 April 2006
Etymology
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”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpwɪs(ə)nt/, /ˈpjuːɪs(ə)nt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈpjuəsənt/, /ˈpwɪsənt/
Audio (US) (file)
Adjective
puissant (comparative more puissant, superlative most puissant)
- (archaic or literary) Powerful, mighty, having authority.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:
- Awake remembrance of these valiant dead, / And with your puissant arm renew their feats.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
- For who can yet believe, though after loss,
That all these puissant legions, whose exile
Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to re-ascend,
Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?
- 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], OCLC 995220039, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput):
- I cried in a loud voice, "Long live the most puissant king of Lilliput!"
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 24, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299:
- How comes all this, if there be not something puissant in whaling?
- 1961, Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land, New York: Avon, OCLC 1036878670:
- In fact the titles could be anything-or (with some of the most puissant) no title at all...
-
Related terms
- puissance
Translations
powerful, mighty
|
Anagrams
- snapsuit, uitspans
French
Etymology
Old present participle of the verb pouvoir (formed with the stem puis-; compare the modern form pouvant), from Old French puissant, pussant.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pɥi.sɑ̃/
audio (file)
Adjective
puissant (feminine puissante, masculine plural puissants, feminine plural puissantes)
- powerful; mighty
Related terms
- pouvoir
- puissance
Further reading
- “puissant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Old French
Alternative forms
- poissant
- pussant
Etymology
From the present participle of pooir, povoir, formed with the stem puis- in conjugated forms of the verb.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pyi̯ˈsãnt/
Adjective
puissant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular puissant or puissante)
- powerful; mighty
Declension
Declension of puissant
| Number | Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Subject | puissanz | puissant | puissant |
| Oblique | puissant | puissant | puissant | |
| Plural | Subject | puissant | puissanz | puissant |
| Oblique | puissanz | puissanz | puissant |
Related terms
- puissance
Descendants
- → English: puissant
- Middle French: puissant
- French: puissant