English → Latin
“decay” in Latin
lāborto slip, slide, glide; (of fluids) to flow gently; to fall, sink down; to slip, stumblecollāborto collapse, fall indīlāborto melt away, dissolve; to fall apart, disintegrate, break up; to decay, collapse, perishmacrēscōto become thin, lean, meagretābēscōto gradually melt or dissolve; to dwindle away, waste awaymarcēscōto begin to wither, pine away; to grow feeble; to pine or languishdēminuōto make smaller; to diminish, lessen or reduce; to weakenminuōto make smaller, lessen, diminish, reduce, minimize; to attenuate, appease, suppress, repress, quell; to dismember, tearimbēcillusweak, feeble; cowardlyattenuōto make thin, attenuate, thin, reduce; to make weak, weaken, lessen, diminish, attenuate, enfeeble
The English word decay itself goes back to Latin cadō, through *dēcadere.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
decay v.
INTRANS., in ruinam pronum esse (PROP., to be near falling): labi (PROP., to fall in; e.g., of a house, of the cheeks, then figuratively to sink, to become worse; e.g., of a breed or race, of manners, of sciences): collabi (to be falling to ruins; PROP., of buildings; figuratively, of the state): dilabi (PROP., to separate from each other; e.g., of the parts of buildings, of walls; then figuratively to be going downwards; e.g., of the state): macrescere (to fall away, of living beings): tabescere (to waste away, of living beings): marcescere (fade away; hence, languish, grow weak; e.g., marcescentes senio vires, Plin.; marcescere desidia, Liv.): deminui (of the moon, also of strength; it would be wrong to use diminui, Vid: Ochs., Cic., Ecl., p. 13): minui; minuere (to be lessened; e.g., of the memory): my strength decays or fails me, viribus senesco, or deficior; vires extenuantur, deficiunt: my memory decays, memoria labat, minuitur; deficior memoria: zeal and hope decay together, studium cum spe senescit: the power of the Athenians decays, opes Atheniensium senescunt: to decay or be reduced to poverty, ad inopiam or egestatem or paupertatem redigi.
TRANS., imbecillum or infirmum reddere; attenuare; vitiare (see WEAKEN). A decayed tooth, densexesus: dens cavus or cavatus (hollow): decayed (= reduced to poverty), ad inopiam, egestatem or paupertatem redactus: beams that are decayed, asseres marcidi (Vitrvius).
decay
deminutio: defectio virium; vires corporis affectae: of the understanding, deminutio mentis. To fall to decay, to go to decay. Vid. DECAY, v. INTR.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for decay?
- The usual Latin words for “decay” are lābor, collābor, dīlābor; also macrēscō, tābēscō, marcēscō. 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.