English → Latin
“confess” in Latin
fateorto confess, admit; to acknowledge, own; to show, indicatecōnfiteorto confess, admit; to acknowledge, agree; to reveal, showprofiteorto declare publicly, own (up to) or confess openly, acknowledge, avow, profess; to offer freely, promise; to profess, clcēlōto hide (something from someone), cover, keep a secret, conceal
The English word confess itself goes back to Latin fateor, through confessus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
confess
fateri (general term and presumes that one is asked): confiteri: profiteri (confiteri signifies to confess what one can not conceal any longer; e.g., a crime, a fault, etc.; profiteri, to confess of one’s own accord, to disclose without fear, etc., hence frequently combined with prae se ferre: ☞ Cic., Caecin: 9, 24: confitetur, atque ita libenter confitetur, ut non solum fateri, sed etiam profiteri videatur. Rab. Perd., 5, 17. fateor, atque etiam profiteor, et prae me fero): not to confess, celare (to conceal); negare (to deny); infitias ire: infitiari (to deny a fact): to confess freely, openly, sincerely, aperte, ingenue, aperte et ingenue confiteri; libere profiteri: to confess to a priest, “peccata sua sacerdoti confiteri; *peccatorum suorum confessionem ad sacrorum interpretem deferre: to confess Christ, *Christum sequi; *doctrinam Christianam profiteri: It is confessed, constat; omnes sciunt, nemo ignorat; inter omnes constat.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for confess?
- The usual Latin words for “confess” are fateor, cōnfiteor, profiteor; also cēlō. 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.