Word.ws English Dictionary

Potomac

/pəˈtoʊmək/

Potomac proper noun: a river that flows along the borders of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, and through Washington, United States.

Proper noun

Potomac

  1. A river that flows along the borders of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, and through Washington, United States.
    • The Potomac surges against the banks, flush with this morning’s rain.2023, R. F. Kuang, Yellowface, The Borough Press, page 298
  2. An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States.
  3. A village in Vermilion County, Illinois, United States.
  4. The asteroid (1345) Potomac.

Origin of Potomac

European spelling of an Algonquian name, variously claimed to mean "river of swans", "place where people trade" or "place to which tribute is brought". The natives called the river above the falls Cohongorooton, "river of geese", and that area was renowned in early years for an abundance of both geese and swans. The spelling of the name has been simplified over the years from Patawomeke to Patowmack in the 18th century and now Potomac. The river's name was determined officially as Potomac by the US government's Board on Geographic Names during 1931.

Phrases with Potomac

Questions about Potomac

What does Potomac mean?
Potomac means a river that flows along the borders of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, and through Washington, United States.
What part of speech is Potomac?
Potomac is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Potomac?
Potomac is pronounced /pəˈtoʊmək/ (US).

Words near Potomac in the dictionary

  1. potocytosis
  2. Potogee
  3. Potogees
  4. Potok
  5. Potol
  6. Potomac
  7. Potomac fever
  8. Potomac horse fever
  9. potomania
  10. potomato
  11. potomatoes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Potomac (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-Potomac.ogg.

Cite this entry: “Potomac.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/potomac. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.