English → Latin
“clumsy” in Latin
inhabilisunmanageable, unwieldy; unfit, incapablevāstusEmpty, unoccupied, i.e. waste, desert.; Desolate, deserted, made lonely.; Wasted by destruction, laid waste, ravaged, deinerswithout skill, unskilled, unskillful, incompetent, crude; inactive, lazy, idle, indolent, sluggish, inert; worthless; strūsticusof the country, rural, rustic; unrefined, boorish, coarseagrestisrural; rustic; wild (of or pertaining to land, fields or the countryside); clownish; rude; uncultivated; coarse; savage;inhūmānusinhuman; savage, barbarous; uncivil, unmannerly, churlish, discourteousgravisheavy; pregnant; troublesome, harddūrushard; rough; harsh; hardy; vigorousīnfōrmisformless, shapeless; deformed; hideous, uglyrudisrough, raw, uncultivated; unrefined, unskilled, awkward; rude
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
clumsy
inhabilis (unmanageable, e.g., of bodies, opposed to habilis): vastus (of living beings and things, e.g. corpore vasto, of clumsy structure, of animate beings): iners (sluggish, unready, of persons): rusticus (opposed to urbanus, in one’s manners): agrestis (in one’s manners or motions, motus corporis): inhumanus (impolite, uncivilized). (The words are found in this connection and order), agrestis et inhumanus: gravis (heavy, e.g., of speech, lingua): durus (not flowing, e.g., of expression, verse. etc.): informis (ill-shaped): rudis (rough, uncouth): incompositus (not PROP. arranged). (The words are found in this connection and order), rudis atque incompositus (e.g., of style, etc.): inurbanus (unmannerly): a clumsy fellow, homo agrestis: homo vultu motuque corporis vastus atque agrestis (of external behavior): homo inurbanus, rusticus (ill-bred, unmannerly): to have a clumsy gait or carriage, corporis motu esse agrestem: illiberalis (incongruous with the manners of a well-bred man): clumsy manners, mores rustici: rusticitas: impolitus (not PROP. wrought or polished): tardus et paene immobilis (slow and almost immovable, e.g., of an animal): incultus (uncivilized, morally and physically): intonsus (without all breeding). (The words are found in this connection and order). iutonsus et incultus: ineruditus (polished neither by breeding nor education): imperitus (without practical experience): inconditus (not property composed or arranged, as poems, words, verses, etc.): crassus (in opposition to whatever is refined, polished, delicate, etc.): inelegans (especially of style in speaking): laevus (awkward): illepidus (not mannerly): rather clumsy, subrusticus: subagrestis.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for clumsy?
- The usual Latin words for “clumsy” are inhabilis, vāstus, iners; also rūsticus, agrestis, 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.