potion

English

Etymology

From Middle English pocioun, borrowed from Old French pocion, from Latin pōtiō (“a drinking”), pōtiōnis, from pōtāre (“to drink”). Doublet of poison.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pəʊ.ʃən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊ.ʃən/
• Rhymes: -əʊʃən

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

potion (plural potions)

1. A small portion or dose of a liquid which is medicinal, poisonous, or magical.

   He hoped to win the princess's heart by mixing the love potion the witch gave him into her drink.

Synonyms

• lib (Britain dialectal, Scotland)

Derived terms

• love potion
• passion potion

 

Translations

small portion or dose of a liquid which is medicinal, poisonous, or magical

• Basque: edabe (eu)
• Bulgarian: елексир m (eleksir)
• Catalan: poció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 藥劑／药剂 (zh) (yàojì), 藥水／药水 (zh) (yàoshuǐ)

• Czech: lektvar (cs) m
• Dutch: drankje (nl) n, toverdrankje (nl), tinctuur (nl)
• Esperanto: eliksiro
• Finnish: mikstuura (fi) (medicinal), myrkkymalja (poisonous), taikajuoma (fi) (magical), rohto (fi), rohdos (fi)
• French: potion (fr)
• Galician: beberaxe m, apócema f
• German: Trank (de) m, Zaubertrank (de) m (magical), Wundertrank m (miraculous), Gifttrank m (poisonous), Heiltrank (de) m (medicinal), Elixier (de) n
• Greek: φίλτρο (el) n (fíltro)
• Hebrew: שיקוי (he) m (shikuy)
• Hindi: दवाई (hi) f (davāī), अर्क़ m (arq), काढ़ा m (kāṛhā)
• Ido: pociono (io)
• Italian: pozione (it) f
• Latin: venēficium n (magical), pōtiō f
• Macedonian: напивка f (napivka)
• Malay: posyen
• Maori: waimatarau
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trylledrikk m

  Nynorsk: trylledrikk m, trylledrykk m, trolldrikk m, trolldrykk m

• Polish: mikstura (pl) f, napój leczniczy m (medicinal), napój magiczny m (magical)
• Portuguese: poção f
• Romanian: poțiune (ro) f
• Russian: сна́добье (ru) n (snádobʹje), зе́лье (ru) n (zélʹje)
• Scottish Gaelic: deoch-eiridinn f
• Spanish: poción (es) f, brebaje (es) m, elixir (es) m, pócima f, bebedizo m
• Swedish: trolldryck (sv) c
• Turkish: iksir (tr), posyon
• Ukrainian: зі́лля n (zíllja)
• Vietnamese: nước bùa, thần dược (vi), thuốc nước

Verb

potion (third-person singular simple present potions, present participle potioning, simple past and past participle potioned)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To drug (someone).
   • 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Edward the Second, […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 49, page 561, column 1:

     [T]he yong L. Roger Mortimer, […] hauing corrupted his Keepers, or (as ſome others vvrite) hauing potioned them vvith a ſleepy drinke, eſcaped out of the Tovver of London, getting ouer clearely vvithout any empeachment into France.

Anagrams

• option

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pōtiōnem. Doublet of poison, which was inherited.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔ.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

potion f (plural potions)

1. potion

See also

• philtre

Further reading

• “potion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.