potable
pot·a·ble/ˈpoʊtəbəl/adjective, noun
potable is spelled P-O-T-A-B-L-E: 7 letters and 3 syllables (pot·a·ble). It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,748th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, potable means “Good for drinking without fear of waterborne disease or poisoning” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in potable?
| Letters | 7: P-O-T-A-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: pot·a·ble |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 35,748th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is potable?
Potable appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,748th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce potable?
- UK /ˈpəʊtəbəl/
- UK /ˈpɒt-/
- US /ˈpoʊtəbəl/
Potable has 3 syllables, split pot·a·ble in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-potable1.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-potable2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with potable
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of potable
- more potable comparative
- most potable superlative
- potables plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does potable mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Good for drinking without fear of waterborne disease or poisoning.
potable water
noun
- 1
Any drinkable liquid; a beverage.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Potable in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense good for drinking – see also drinkable:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does potable come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).