potency vs potential

potency

noun
  • The ability or capacity to perform something 

  • Concentration; strength 

  • Sexual virility: the ability to become erect or achieve orgasm. 

  • Potentiality, ability, capacity. 

  • Power, authority. 

potential

noun
  • Currently unrealized ability (with the most common adposition being to) 

  • The gravitational potential: the radial (irrotational, static) component of a gravitational field, also known as the Newtonian potential or the gravitoelectric field. 

  • A verbal construction or form stating something is possible or probable. 

  • The work (energy) required to move a reference particle from a reference location to a specified location in the presence of a force field, for example to bring a unit positive electric charge from an infinite distance to a specified point against an electric field. 

adj
  • A potential flow is an irrotational flow. 

  • Referring to a verbal construction of form stating something is possible or probable. 

  • A potential field is an irrotational (static) field. 

  • Existing in possibility, not in actuality. 

How often have the words potency and potential occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )