What is the Latin word for drown?

The usual Latin words for “drown” are inundō, dēvorō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“drown” in Latin

inundōto overflow, inundate, flood dēvorōto swallow, gulp down, or devour; enjoy; to swallow down, repress, suppress, check, bear with patience; to absorb

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

drown

demergere in aqua: aqua mergere (to plunge under the water): aqua suffocare (so as to produce death): to drown one’s self, se in aquam mergere.

To be drowned, aquis hauriri; (aquis) submergi; fluctibus obrui: in a deep morass, in the stream, profundo limo, gurgitibus hauriri: in the deepest part or middle of the river, medio in flumine submergi (†).

To overflow, inundare: the Tiber drowned the plain, Tiberis agros inundavit: continual showers that drowned the fields, imbres continui campis omnibus inundantes (Liv., 8, 24).

IMPROPR. To immerge, to lose in anything; e.g., to be drowned in pleasure, luxuria diffluere et delicate ac molliter vivere: corporis voluptatibus (totum) se dedere: libidinibus se servum praestare (to be a slave of pleasure); voluptatibus astrictum esse (stronger term).

To lose in something that overpowers or covers; to be drowned, devorari (of the voice that is rendered inaudible, vox in orchestris scobe aut arena, superjecta devoratur): a sound is drowned (e.g., in a large vault), vox devoratur: strepitus or fremitus aurium usum intercludit (there is such a noise that I can not hear the speaker): to drown anybody’s voice, obstrepere alicui ingenti clamore (to cry out against him so that he cannot be heard): to drown the splendor (of a lesser luminary), *fulgore or splendore vincere: to drown all the rest by its brilliancy, prae ceteris omnibus enitere et praefulgere (Gell., 12, 5, med.).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for drown?: The usual Latin words for “drown” are inundō, dēvorō. 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.