“Drinking water” or “drunk water”

Question

Why do people use bottled drinking water instead of bottled drunk water?

I am puzzled by the two sentences.

I am drinking some water.

Some water is being drunk.

I know they are the same meaning, within just one family of objects and subjects.

Clearly, water can only be drunk, it cannot be drinking.

Answer 1

To build on Unreason's answer, the phrase X-ing Noun parses like Noun for X-ing

• Drinking Water (Water for Drinking)
• Running Shoes (Shoes for Running)
• Bathing Suit (Suit for Bathing)
• etc

Like other bits of the English language, there is a bit of variation which leads to things like swim suit and race track, but that is the general rule.

Answer 2

It's the same reason why it's called racing tracks and not raced tracks.

Generally, when describing an object by the action that takes place on it, the present participle is used e.g. flying trapeze(not flown trapeze), weighing bridge(not weighed bridge).

However, if describing a thing by an action that has already taken place, the past participle may be used e.g. Processed water(water that has already been processed), edited question, etc.

In this case, as the action has not yet taken place(bottled drinking water), the present participle is used.

P.S. Of course, the present verb can also be used as an adjective e.g. walkway, runway, etc.

Answer 3

I think¹ that in the phrases

• running shoes
• swimming suit
• drinking water

you have noun compounds (main noun is pre-modified with a gerund).

As Harrold says, drinkable water works, but it is not the same - drinkable water means only that it can be used for drinking, but drinking water means it is normally used for drinking. Consider the following to feel the difference:

Are you bathing in drinkable water where you live now?
No, the tap water is really unsafe, we actually bathe with drinking water.

Also, in my other examples you can not switch to adjective: “runnable” shoes and “swimable” suit are awkward, ambiguous and not in use.

EDIT: Another example could be

• washing shoes: shoes you use when doing laundry (washing)
• washable shoes: shoes that you can wash

¹_{Not a native speaker}

Answer 4

Because the adjective drunk means affected by alcohol to the extent of losing control of one's faculties or behavior. The proper adjective would be drinkable, I would say. Bottled drinking water is bottled water intended for drinking.

Answer 5

I would translate "drinking water" as "water FOR drinking."

You would not say, "water for DRUNK."

As above, "running shoes" = "shoes for running."