English → Latin
“block” in Latin
truncustree trunk; a piece cut off; blockhead, dunce, doltglaebaclod (lump of earth); land, soil; lump, mass of stuffcaudextree trunk, stump; bollard; post; book, writing; notebook, account bookmassamass, bulk (of material); load, burden; doughphalanxphalanx; battaliontrochleamechanical contrivance for raising weights; case or sheaf containing one or more pulleys; pulley blockstīpōto crowd or press together, compress; to cram, stuff, fill; to surround, encompassclaudōto shut up, close, lock; to imprison, confine; to encompass, surroundobstruōto build before or against; build, block, or wall up; stop up, barricade, render impassable; to obstruct, stop up, hindeinterclūdōto shut out or off; to close; to hinder, stop or block, keep away
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
block
truncus (of wood): gleba (of stone, marble): caudex (block to which offenders were fastened): massa (mass, lump): phalanga (roller): forma causiae (hat-block): trochlea (pulley): truncus funestus (executioner’s block). To come to the block, securi percuti.
Block, blockhead, stipes, truncus, caudex.
block v.
a., claudere (shut in): obstruere, obsepire, intercludere. To block up the way, viam praecluderc; viam obstruere (barricade); iter obsepire; iter intercludere, interrumpere.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for block?
- The usual Latin words for “block” are truncus, glaeba, caudex; also massa, phalanx, trochlea. 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.