English → Latin
“brutal” in Latin
bēluabeast, monster; brutepecusA group of large domestic animals: a herd of cattle, horses, or donkeys; such animals in a collective sense: cattle and atrōxfierce, savage, bloody; heinous, cruel, severe; terrible, frightening, dreadfulcrūdēlisunfeeling, rude; ruthless, cruel, mercilessferuswild, savage, fierce, cruel; uncivilized, uncultivated; untamed, roughinhūmānusinhuman; savage, barbarous; uncivil, unmannerly, churlish, discourteousimmānisimmense, enormous, huge, vast; brutal, inhuman, frightful, savage
The English word brutal itself goes back to Latin brūtus, through brutalis.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
brutal
by the genitive, beluarum or pecudum.
Cruel, etc., atrox, crudelis, ferus, inhumanus, immanis. A brutal fellow, homo inhumanissimus, monstrum hominis.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for brutal?
- The usual Latin words for “brutal” are bēlua, pecus, atrōx; also crūdēlis, ferus, inhūmānus. 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.