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Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *puttaz Old English pott Proto-Germanic *puttaz Frankish *pottder. Vulgar Latin pottum Old French potbor. Middle English pot English pot From Middle English pot, potte, from Old English pott (“pot”) and Old French pot (“pot”) (probably from Frankish *pott); both Old English and Frankish from Proto-Germanic *puttaz (“pot, jar; tub”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pot (“pot”), Dutch pot (“pot”), German Low German Pott (“pot”), German Pott (“pot”), Swedish potta (“chamber pot”), Icelandic pottur (“tub, pot”) (from Old Norse pottr (“pot, tub, basin”)), and perhaps Armenian պույտ (puyt, “pot”) (from Old Armenian պոյտն (poytn, “pot, earthen pot”)) and Albanian bocë (“bottle, decanter”), related either via late Proto-Indo-European or as a Wanderwort. Middle English pot gave rise to Irish pota, Scottish Gaelic poit, and Welsh pot through borrowing. Further cognates in Romance languages are via Late Latin pottus /pōtus, pottum, which either was borrowed from the Germanic word or, less likely, is its source; see more on the Proto-Germanic entry. The sense of “ruin” or “deterioration” was originally a general allusion to “being chopped up and tossed in a (normally fiery) pot, like a piece of meat” (i.e. “to get wasted or done with (by someone)”). The “clean” slang term which was used in reference to toilet rooms and lavatories apparently derives from English chamberpots, although now usually encountered as potty in the context of children's toilet training.

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *puttaz Old English pott Proto-Germanic *puttaz Frankish *pottder. Vulgar Latin pottum Old French potbor. Middle English pot English pot From Middle English pot, potte, from Old English pott (“pot”) and Old French pot (“pot”) (probably from Frankish *pott); both Old English and Frankish from Proto-Germanic *puttaz (“pot, jar; tub”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pot (“pot”), Dutch pot (“pot”), German Low German Pott (“pot”), German Pott (“pot”), Swedish potta (“chamber pot”), Icelandic pottur (“tub, pot”) (from Old Norse pottr (“pot, tub, basin”)), and perhaps Armenian պույտ (puyt, “pot”) (from Old Armenian պոյտն (poytn, “pot, earthen pot”)) and Albanian bocë (“bottle, decanter”), related either via late Proto-Indo-European or as a Wanderwort. Middle English pot gave rise to Irish pota, Scottish Gaelic poit, and Welsh pot through borrowing. Further cognates in Romance languages are via Late Latin pottus /pōtus, pottum, which either was borrowed from the Germanic word or, less likely, is its source; see more on the Proto-Germanic entry. The sense of “ruin” or “deterioration” was originally a general allusion to “being chopped up and tossed in a (normally fiery) pot, like a piece of meat” (i.e. “to get wasted or done with (by someone)”). The “clean” slang term which was used in reference to toilet rooms and lavatories apparently derives from English chamberpots, although now usually encountered as potty in the context of children's toilet training.

Possibly a shortened form of Mexican Spanish potiguaya or potaguaya (“cannabis leaves”), from pota + de + guaya (see guayar (“to lament”)), or from potación de guaya (literally “drink of grief”), supposedly denoting a drink of wine or brandy in which marijuana buds were steeped.

Clipping of potentiometer.

Etymology tree Latin pōtiōder. Old French pocionbor. Middle English pocioun English potionclip. English pot Clipping of potion.