English → Latin
“disdain” in Latin
fastīdiumloathing, disgust, disdain; squeamishness; fastidiousnesssuperbiapride, haughtiness, arrogance, snobbishness, insolence, lawlessness, wantonness; conceit, vanity; rudeness, discourtesycontemnōto scorn, despise, show contempt; to disparage, consider a person or thing as unimportant or of small value; to disregarcontemptiōcontempt, scorn, disdaindēspiciōto look down upon; to disdain or despise; to look away, disregardsprētĭoa despisingdēdignorto reject as unworthy, disdain, scornspernōto move aside, push away; to sever, separate, remove; to despise, reject, scorn, spurnāspernorto cast off, turn away, avert, repel; to cast off, spurn, despise, disdain, scorn; to refuse, reject, declinerespuōto spit or spew out; to reject or refuse
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
disdain s.
fastidium (☞ fastus poetical and post- Augustan prose). (The words are found in this connection and order.) superbia et fastidium: fastidium arrogantiaque: superbia (pride): contemptus: contemptio: despicientia: (The words are found in this connection and order.) contemptio et despicientia: spretio [Liv.; SYN. in CONTEMPT]. A disdain of anything, (insolens) alicujus rei fastidium. With disdain; Vid: DISDAINFULLY.
disdain v.
Despise a person or thing, fastidire aliquid (perhaps not pre-Augustan): dedignari (perhaps not pre-Augustan; most frequently in Ov.): spernere: aspernari; respuere: (The words are found in this connection and order.) aspernari et respuere: repudiare: despicere: despicatui habere, contemnere: (The words are found in this connection and order.) contemnere ac despicere: despicere et contemnere: contemnere et pro nihilo ducere: despicere et pro nihilo putare: spernere et repudiare [SYN. in DESPISE]; aliquid infra se ducere (e.g., omnia humana, Cic.): aliquid despicere atque infra se positum arbitrari (Cic.).
To disdain to do anything, fastidire aliquid facere (probably the first prose author who uses it is Liv.): dedignari aliquid facere (Ov., Tac., etc.): spernere (poetical; e.g., partem de solido die demere, Hor.): contemnere (poetical; e.g., lippus innngi, Hor.): aspernari (Stat.; Tac., Ann., 4, 46): refugere (poetical; e.g., tendere barbiton, Hor.): cf., With the exception of fastidire (which is used by Liv.), none of these words are followed by infinitive in the Golden Age by prose writers; hence a different turn must be given to the expression; e.g., facere aliquid non suae dignitatis esse statuere; suae majestatis esse non censere (of gods, princes), etc.; turpe or turpe et indignum putare; or for “to disdain to do it,” substitute “will by no means do it,” etc. In my opinion you should disdain to ally yourself to a man of his character, huic te socium neutiquam puto esse oportere. Of general truths, facere aliquid in aliquem non cadit may be used: the good man disdains to tell a lie, mentiri in bonum virum non cadit.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for disdain?
- The usual Latin words for “disdain” are fastīdium, superbia, contemnō; also contemptiō, dēspiciō, sprētĭo. 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.