impotence

English

Alternative forms

• impotency

Etymology

From Middle French impotence, from Latin impotentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪmpətəns/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

impotence (usually uncountable, plural impotences)

2. Powerlessness; incapacity.

   Near-synonyms: weakness, helplessness

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 12, line 52:

     O impotence of mind, in body ſtrong!

   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 199:

     Ideas that are not thus rooted in social needs are condemned to impotence, and this applies to all utopias and dreams of a perfect society.

4. Inability to copulate or beget children; sterility, erectile dysfunction, etc.

   Hyponyms: impotentia coeundi, impotentia generandi

Derived terms

• monetary impotence

Related terms

• impotent

Translations

powerlessness

• Belarusian: бяссі́лле n (bjassíllje)
• Bulgarian: безсилие (bg) n (bezsilie)
• Catalan: impotència f
• Finnish: voimattomuus (fi)
• French: impuissance (fr) f
• German: Machtlosigkeit (de) f
• Hindi: नपुंसकता (hi) f (napunsaktā), नामर्दी (hi) f (nāmardī)
• Macedonian: не́моќ f (némoḱ), бе́ссилност f (béssilnost), бесси́лие n (bessílie) (archaic)
• Polish: impotencja (pl) f, bezsilność (pl) f, bezsiła f
• Portuguese: impotência (pt) f
• Romanian: impotență (ro), lipsă de putere
• Russian: бесси́лие (ru) n (bessílije)
• Spanish: impotencia (es) f
• Ukrainian: безси́лля (uk) n (bezsýllja)

erectile dysfunction

• Arabic: عَنَانَة f (ʕanāna), عُنَّة f (ʕunna)
• Armenian: իմպոտենցիա (hy) (impotencʻia)
• Belarusian: імпатэ́нцыя f (impaténcyja)
• Bulgarian: импотентност (bg) f (impotentnost)
• Burmese: ပန်းသေရောဂါ (my) (pan:serau:ga)
• Catalan: impotència f
• Czech: impotence f
• Dutch: impotentie (nl) f
• Finnish: impotenssi (fi)
• French: impuissance (fr) f
• German: Impotenz (de) f, Zeugungsunfähigkeit f
• Hindi: नपुंसकता (hi) f (napunsaktā), नामर्दी (hi) f (nāmardī)
• Hungarian: impotencia (hu)
• Indonesian: impotensi (id)
• Macedonian: импоте́нција f (impoténcija)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: impotens m

  Nynorsk: impotens m

• Polish: impotencja (pl) f, niemoc płciowa f
• Romanian: impotență (ro)
• Russian: импоте́нция (ru) f (impoténcija), полово́е бесси́лие n (polovóje bessílije), маломо́чие n (malomóčije) (rare)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: импотѐнција, спо̑лна не̏мо̄ћ f, по̑лна не̏мо̄ћ f

  Latin: impotèncija (sh), spȏlna (sh) nȅmōć f, pȏlna (sh) nȅmōć f

• Spanish: impotencia (es) f
• Swedish: impotens (sv) c
• Telugu: నపుంసకత్వము (te) (napuṁsakatvamu)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} iktidarsızlık (tr)
• Ukrainian: імпоте́нція f (impoténcija)
• Urdu: نامردی f (nāmardī)

Czech

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Italic *n̥-

Latin in-

Proto-Indo-European *pótis

Proto-Italic *potis

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti

Proto-Italic *-ējō

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ēō

Proto-Italic *potēō

Proto-Italic *potēnts

Latin potēns

Latin impotēns

Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-ijos

Proto-Italic *-ios

Old Latin -ios

Latin -ius

Latin -ia

Latin impotentiabor.

Czech impotence

Borrowed from Latin impotentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɪmpotɛnt͡sɛ]
• Rhymes: -ɛntsɛ

Noun

impotence f

1. impotence (inability to copulate or beget children)

Declension

Declension of impotence (soft feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	impotence	impotence
genitive	impotence	impotencí
dative	impotenci	impotencím
accusative	impotenci	impotence
vocative	impotence	impotence
locative	impotenci	impotencích
instrumental	impotencí	impotencemi

Related terms

• See potence

Further reading

• “impotence”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “impotence”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “impotence”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.pɔ.tɑ̃s/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

Noun

impotence f (plural impotences)

1. powerlessness

Further reading

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