drink
To take liquid into the mouth and swallow.
Etymology
English "drink" comes from Old English drincan, from Proto-Germanic *drinkaną. The PIE origin is uncertain — a connection to *dʰrenǵ- has been proposed but is not established. The main PIE root for drinking is *peh₃- "to drink," which gives English "potion," "poison" (originally a drink/potion), "potable," and "symposium" (Greek syn- + posis "a drinking together"). The native Germanic word likely displaced the inherited *peh₃- reflex.
The Journey: (uncertain) → drink
*peh₃-
pōtāre (to drink)
poison, potion
potion, poison
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root (uncertain). They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word |
|---|---|
| Greek | pī́nō |
| Latin | pōtāre, bibere |
| Sanskrit | pī́bati, pā́ti |
| Old Irish | ibid |
| Lithuanian | puotà (feast) |
| Old Church Slavonic | piti |
Did You Know?
Poison was originally just a drink — from Latin pōtiōnem "a drink, a potion." And a symposium was literally "a drinking party" — Greek syn- "together" + posis "drinking," from PIE *peh₃-. Plato's famous philosophical dialogues were set at drinking parties.