What is the Latin word for eat?

The usual Latin words for “eat” are edō, mandūcō, vorō; also gustō, comedō, capessō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“eat” in Latin

edōto eat mandūcōto chew, gnaw on, masticate; to eat vorōto devour; to eat greedily; to swallow up; to destroy, overwhelm gustōto taste, sample; to snack; to whet one's appetite comedōto eat or chew up; to consume or devour; to fret or chafe capessōto seize, snatch, take, catch at or lay hold of eagerly; to strive for or after, make for, betake oneself to, endeavor t sūmōto take, take up, catch, assume, seize, claim, arrogate; to undertake, begin, enter upon; to exact satisfaction, inflict

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

eat

TRANS., edere (general term): manducare (to chew, to masticate; e.g., a couple of mouthfuls, duas bucceas, Oct. ap. Suet.): vesci aliqua re (to eat it for the purpose of supporting life; to feed on it): vorare (voraciously): gustare (just to take a taste; e.g., only a little bread and some dates, panem et palmulas). Eat up, comedere: not to eat much, paullulum cibi tantum sumere (at any given meal); non multi esse cibi (of the habit): to eat very little, minimi esse cibi: to be able to eat and drink a great deal, cibi vinique capacissimum esse: to eat nothing, cibo se abstinere. To give anybody something to eat, aliquem cibo juvare (refresh him with food); aliquem cibare manu sua (feed an animal with one’s own hand; after Suet., Tiberius, 72): to have nothing to eat, nihil est mini, quo famem tolerem: to get nothing to eat for two days, biduum cibo prohiberi: we must eat and drink enough to, etc., tantum cibi et potionis adhibendum est, ut, etc. (Vid: Cic., Cat., Maj., 11, 36). To give the cattle something to eat, pecori cibum dare, pabulum praebere. To eat anybody out, aliquem exedere, comedere, or devorare (comedy).

Eat up (anybody’s property), alicujus facultates, opes exhaurire: to eat anybody out of house and home, perdere aliquem sumtibus.

To eat one’s words, dicta retractare (Verg.).

Eat away or into, arrodere (Plin.), adedere: to be eaten away by anything, rodi, erodi aliqua re (of metals); e.g., the iron is eaten away by rust, ferrum rubigine roditur: the bone is eaten away, os carie infectum est; to a great depth, altius descendit caries (Cels.).

To cut into (of corrosive fluids), perrodere.

eat

INTR., edere; cibum capere, capessere, sumere: to be unable either to eat or sleep, cibi somnique inopem esse (Ov.): the gods neither eat nor drink, dii nec escis nec potionibus vescuntur: to eat plentifully, largiter se invitare: to eat with a good appetite, libenter cenare: the horse eats well, equus libenter cibo utitur.

To eat well (i. e., to be pleasant to the palate), jucunde sapere.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for eat?: The usual Latin words for “eat” are edō, mandūcō, vorō; also gustō, comedō, capessō. 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.