Powerful

How to spell powerful

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce powerful

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does powerful mean?

1. adjectiveHaving great strength, force, influence, or effect.

Powerful in a sentence

• The new engine is far more powerful than the old one.

• She gave a powerful speech that moved the whole room.

Where does powerful come from?

Language of origin: French

The word powerful is built from the English noun power plus the suffix -ful, meaning 'full of'. Power itself entered English in the early 1300s from the Anglo-Norman poer or pouair, which came from the Vulgar Latin verb potere, 'to be able', a reshaping of the classical Latin posse with the same meaning. The same Latin root for being able sits behind a whole family of familiar words, including possible, potent, and potential. The suffix -ful is a thoroughly native Old English ending, so powerful is a hybrid: a French-derived stem married to a Germanic suffix. A useful spelling note is that -ful as a suffix always carries a single l, even though the standalone word full has two, which is why powerful ends in one l rather than two.

How the word is built

• power (strength, force)
• -ful (full of, adjective suffix)