English → Latin
“desirable” in Latin
optābilisdesirableoptōto choose, select, prefer, opt; to wish for, hope for, long for, desirecupiōto desire, long for; to please, favor, be well disposed towards (someone, something)expetōto desire, covet; to demand insistently, solicit; to strive fordēsīderābilisdesirable, wanted; missed (of the dead); regrettedcupiditāsdesire (deemed good, neutral or bad); lust, passion; cupidity, avarice, greed, covetousness
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
desirable
optabilis: optandus: cupiundus (Sall., Jug., 3, 1): expetendus: desiderabilis (rare; e.g., quae [cupiditates] inanes sunt, his parendum non est; nihil enim desiderabile concupiscunt, Cic., Fin., 1, 16, 53; and Top., 18, 69). Not to seem at all desirable, minime cupiundum videri: not to be desirable for its own sake, nihil habere in se, cur expetatur: to be very desirable, magnopere expetendum esse: to be desirable for its own sake, propter se expetendum esse: there is nothing in this world so desirable as, etc., nihil in hac vita, magnopere expetendum, nisi, etc.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for desirable?
- The usual Latin words for “desirable” are optābilis, optō, cupiō; also expetō, dēsīderābilis, cupiditās. 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.