English → Latin
“brief” in Latin
brevisshort, small, little, narrow; brief, short; short, low, shallowangustusnarrow, close, contracted, constricted, confined, small, not spacious; narrow, strait; short, briefconcidōto fall down or together, tumble to the ground, collapse, break down, drop; to fall down lifeless in combat, to be slaugastringōto draw close, bind or tie together; tighten, contract; to check, repress, restrain; to put under obligation, oblige, nepremōto press, push, press close or hard, oppress, overwhelm; to tighten, compress, shorten, press closely, squeeze; to make,litteraletter (of the alphabet); handwriting; letter, epistlediplōmaletter of recommendation; a document drawn up by a magistrate, assuring to the holder some favor or privilege, a diploma
The English word brief itself goes back to Latin brevis.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
brief
brevis; angustus, concisus, astrictus, pressus. (The words are found in this connection and order), contractus et astrictus. [SYN. in SHORT]. A brief narration, narratio brevis. To be brief (of a speaker), brevem (opposed to longum) esse; brevitatem adhibere in aliqua re, brevitati servire. Time itself forces me to be brief, breviloquentem me tempus ipsum facit. Be brief with it, in pauca confer, verbo dicas, praecide; id, si potes, verbo expedi. To be brief (make short), in brief, ut in pauca conferam; ne longum faciam; ne longus sim; ut ad pauca redeam; ut paucis dicam; ne multa; ne plura; quid multa? ad summam: ne longum fiat: ne (multis) te morer: de quo ne multa disseram: quid plura? quid quaeris? denique. This is the brief of the thing, haec summa est.
brief
s, litterae; diploma.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for brief?
- The usual Latin words for “brief” are brevis, angustus, concidō; also astringō, premō, littera. 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.