What is the Latin word for conception?

The usual Latin words for “conception” are conceptiō, concipiō, intellegentia; also nōtiō, īnfōrmātiō, speciēs. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“conception” in Latin

conceptiōidea, notion, conception concipiōto receive or catch, grasp; to derive (from); to contain or hold intellegentiaintelligence, the power of discernment; understanding, knowledge; taste, skill, the capacity to be a connoisseur nōtiōacquaintance (becoming acquainted); examination, investigation; notion, idea īnfōrmātiōsketch, idea, conception; information speciēsseeing, view, look; spectacle, sight; external appearance, looks; general outline or shape ideaidea; prototype (Platonic)intellegōto understand, comprehend, realize, come to know; to perceive, discern, see, observe, recognise; feel, notice ingeniuminnate or natural quality, natural character; nature; disposition, temper, inclination; intelligence, natural capacity

The English word conception itself goes back to Latin capiō, through conceptiō.

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

conception

Act of conceiving (both of women and animals), conceptio: conceptus, -ūs.

Act or power of comprehending, intelligentia (the faculty of comprehending or understanding anything, the understanding: intellectus, post-Augustan): vis percipiendi (the faculty or power of comprehending any object presented to the mind.): not to be above the conception of ordinary men, intelligentia a vulgari non remotum esse: not to be above his pupils’ powers of conception, ab intelligentia discentium non remotum esse: to be beyond our conception, fugere intelligentiae nostrae vim: to sharpen one’s powers of conception, ingenium or intelligendi prudentiam acuere: adapted to anybody’s powers of conception, ad alicujus intelligentiam accommodatus: to develope a dark or confused conception, obscuram intelligentiam enodare; animi complicatam notionem evolvere.

Notion, idea, notio (the notion which one attaches to anything; hence also the signification or meaning of a word): informatio (the image of anything that one forms in one’s mind), species, idea (the mental intuition of an object, ἰδέα, mostly translated by species in Cic., e.g., Topica, 7, in: and Disputationes Tusculanae, 1, 24, 56): general conceptions, notitiae rerum: dark or obscure conceptions, intelligentiae obscurae, adumbratae, inchoatae; cognitio indagationis indigens: confused conceptions, animi complicatae notiones: to form a conception of anything, aliquid mente formare or fingere; aliquid animo effingere; alicujus rei notionem mente fingere; informare in animo alicujus rei notionem; notionem alicujus rei animo concipere: to form some obscure conceptions, adumbratas concipere intelligentias animo menteque: to have a clear and definite conception of anything, satis firme conceptual animo comprehensumque habere aliquid; probe or plane intelligere, perspectum habere aliquid: to have no conception of anything, notionem alicujus rei nullam habere; aliquid ignorare.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for conception?: The usual Latin words for “conception” are conceptiō, concipiō, intellegentia; also nōtiō, īnfōrmātiō, speciēs. 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.