English → Latin
“dwarf” in Latin
nānusdwarf; small horsegenusbirth, origin, lineage, descent; kind, type, class; species (general classification, as of living things), taxon (of aninānadwarf (female)pūmiliōdwarfpūmilusdwarf (especially as a taxonomic epithet)pusillusvery little, very small, tinyminuōto make smaller, lessen, diminish, reduce, minimize; to attenuate, appease, suppress, repress, quell; to dismember, tear
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
dwarf
nanus (νάννος); feminine, nana (νάννα, Lampr., Alex. Sev., 34): pure Latin, pumilio or pumilus: such dwarfs, homines tantulae staturae (Caes.): like a dwarf, pusillus (i. e., very small).
Any animal or plant that is under the usual size of the species or genus; e.g., *betula nana (according to Linn., of a birch-tree); in a similar manner, *phaseolus nanus (Linn., of a bean); sometimes the termination -aster is used: *mespilus cotoneaster (Linn., of a medlar); sometimes minutus or pusillus, of anything that, from any cause, has been checked in its growth; e.g., pisciculus (fish); folium (leaf).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for dwarf?
- The usual Latin words for “dwarf” are nānus, genus, nāna; also pūmiliō, pūmilus, pusillus. 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.