What is the Latin word for dip?

The usual Latin words for “dip” are tingō, perfundō, vergō; also prōclīvis, dēclīnō, implicō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“dip” in Latin

tingōto wet, moisten, dip (in), impregnate (with); to smear; to dip, immerse; to give to drink, treat; to colour, dye, tinge perfundōto pour (liquid) over or through; to perfuse; to flood or bathe, drench; to imbue, inspire, fill with any thing vergōto bend, turn, incline; to bend, turn, verge, slope down; to be situated, lie prōclīvisdownward; downhill; prone (to); steep (hence unsafe)dēclīnōto bend, deviate, turn aside/away, deflect; to inflect, decline; to avoid implicōto entangle, entwine; to infold, envelop, encircle; to embrace gustōto taste, sample; to snack; to whet one's appetite inclīnātiōact of leaning; tendency, inclination; mathematics slope, inclination dēclīnātiōdeclination; inclination; avoidance caelumheaven (where the stars and the Milky Way is); sky; climate, weather

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

dip

TR., mergere in aliquid, or in aliqua, re, or aliqua re only (e.g., in aquam or aqua; in the sea, mari): tingere, or intingere in aliqua re, or aliqua re (to dip or steep in anything for the purpose of moistening it [e.g., a sponge in vinegar, spongiam in aceto]; or of extinguishing it [e.g., torches in a river, faces in amne]; tingere aliqua re is especially = to dip for the purpose of coloring anything). [☞ Immergere, mostly poetical and post-Augustan, prose; but also Ciceronian.] To dip one’s hands in anybody’s blood, manus caede alicujus imbuere: to dip one’s pen in the ink, calamum intingere (Quint., 10, 3, 31). To dip anything under, submergere; demergere or mergere only; anything in, aliquid in aliqua re, sub aliqua re. To dip one’s head under (in bathing), submergere fluctibus caput: demergere vultum in undas (Propertius, 3, 18, 9).

To baptize (used contemptuously), perfundere (so used by the Pelagian Julianus, elegisti verbum, quo fieret contemptibile quod dicebas, August, contr. Julianus, 6, 26): DIP, INTR., se mergere in aliquid or in aliqua re (of persons).

Incline, vergere: proclivem or declivem esse (to dip or slope downwards): to dip to the south, in meridiem vergere.

Of the magnetic needle, declinare (technical term).

Engage in, implicari (into anything, aliqua re): se immiscere (into anything, alicui rei).

To enter slightly into, leviter attingere aliquid (e.g., Greek, Graecas litteras, Cic.): gustare aliquid primis or primoribus labris, ut aiunt, gustare (just to taste of it; figuratively, opposed to the thorough study of anything). To dip into a book, librum strictim attingere (Cic., Att., 2, 1, 1): librum percurrere (after Cic.): librum cursim transire (Gell.) [Poetically, oculo properante legere, Ov.; oculo veloci percurrere, Hor.]: paginas percurrere (e.g., in annalibus, Liv., 9, 18, mid.): inspicere librum (Plaut.). Satisfied with dipping into the Gorgias without looking at his other works, Gorgiam legere contentus, neque hoc totum neque alia ejus volumina evolvit (after Quint., 15, 24).

dip s.

inclinatio. declinatio (e.g., caeli: mundi). Dip of the magnetic needle, *fastigium acus nauticae (Georges): *inclinatio, devergentia acus nauticae (Krafter; devergentia, only Gell.).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for dip?: The usual Latin words for “dip” are tingō, perfundō, vergō; also prōclīvis, dēclīnō, implicō. 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.