English → Latin
“butcher” in Latin
laniusbutcherlaniōto rend, tear to piecesmacellāriusbutcher or meat sellerpopaA priest's assistant (at a sacrifice)cultrāriusslayer of the victim.; official at sacrifice who wields the knife; knife-maker, razor-makercaedōto cut, hew, fell; to strike, beat; to kill, to murderiugulōto slay, kill, slit the throat ofmactōto reward, honor; to punish, afflict, trouble; to offer, sacrifice, immolatetrucīdōto slaughter, massacre, cut to pieces, kill in a cruel way; to demolish, destroy, ruinconcidōto fall down or together, tumble to the ground, collapse, break down, drop; to fall down lifeless in combat, to be slaug
The English word butcher itself goes back to Latin buccus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
butcher
lanius, seldom lanio: macellarius (meat-seller).
At a sacrifice, popa (who struck the beast): cultrarius (who cut his throat). FIG., homo sanguinarius.
butcher v.
PROP., caedere, jugulare; mactare (at a sacrifice). FIG., trucidare, concidere; obtruncare.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for butcher?
- The usual Latin words for “butcher” are lanius, laniō, macellārius; also popa, cultrārius, caedō. 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.