What is the Latin word for affliction?

The usual Latin words for “affliction” are miseria, aegritūdō, aegrimōnia; also dolor, trīstitia, maestitia. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“affliction” in Latin

miseriamisfortune; misery (great unhappiness)aegritūdōillness, sickness; grief, sorrow aegrimōniamental or emotional distress (anxiety, sorrow, etc.)dolorpain, ache, hurt; anguish, grief, sorrow; indignation, resentment, anger, fury, vengeance trīstitiasadness, sorrow, melancholy, sloth; the (sad) state of things; moroseness, sourness maestitiasadness, sorrow, grief, dejection, melancholy angōto bind, draw, press together; to choke, throttle, strangle (replaced in Classical Latin by suffoco); to cause physical maerormourning, grief, lamentation; sorrow afflictātĭopain lūctusa mourning, grieving; grief, sorrow; lamentation

The English word affliction itself goes back to Latin flīgō, through afflīctiō.

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

affliction

subjectively as a state of mind: miseria (wretchedness) :aegritudo, aegrimonia (opposed to alacritas; sickness of soul from a sense of present evil; the latter implying that it is an abiding sense): dolor (opposed to gaudium, a present sense of hardship, pain, or grief): tristitia, moestitia, masculine, (the natural, involuntary manifestation of grief): angor (passionate, tormenting apprehension of a coming evil; sollicitudo being the anxious, unsettling apprehension of it): moeror (is stronger than dolor, being the feeling and its manifestation): afflictatio (=“aegritudo cum vexatione corporis,” Cic.): luctus (is mourning; i. e., by conventional signs).

Objectively; an affliction, malum; plur., mala :aerumna (an old and half-poetical word; but used by Cic., a hardship that almostexceeds human strength): casus adversus, or, from context, casus only; res adversae, fortunae afflictae: fortuna adversa: calamitas, miseria, acerbitates (SYN. in ADVERSITY). Time of affliction, res miserae, afflictae, angustiae temporum, tempora luctuosa. OBSERVE: infortunium is used by the comic writers only of a corporeal punishment. To be in affliction, in miseria esse or versari, miserum esse: in summa infelicitate versari: in malis esse, jacere; malis urgeri; in malia versari; pessimo loco esse; iniquissima fortuna uti: angi; angore confici; angoribus premi, agitari, urgeri; angi intimis sensibus: angore cruciari: about anything, dolere or moerere rem or re; dolorem ex re capere, accipere, suscipere, haurire; molestiam trahere ex re (to feel oppressed and dispirited by it): in great affliction about anything, magnum dolorem ex re accipere; ex re magnam animo molestiam capere: to come into affliction, in miseriam incidere; in mala praecipitare: to relieve anybody from affliction, miseriis aliquem levare: to deliver him, a miseria vindicare; ex miseriis eripere: to endure affliction, miserias ferre, serumnas perpeti (i. e., patiently to the end).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for affliction?: The usual Latin words for “affliction” are miseria, aegritūdō, aegrimōnia; also dolor, trīstitia, maestitia. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.