English → Latin
“faint” in Latin
languidusfaint, weak; dull, languid; sluggish, slowlassusweary; faint; tired; exhausted; used upfessustired, weary; weak, enfeebled; sick, diseaseddēfetīscorto become tired, grow weary, be exhaustedlangueōto be faint, weak; to be inactive, listless, idlelanguēscōto become faint, feeble, weak, languid or sick; to languish; to wiltēlanguēscōto grow faint or feeble; to flag; to slacken or relaxlentussticky, tenacious; slow, sluggish; flexible, pliantlinquōto leave, quit, forsake, depart fromliqueōto be liquid, fluid; to be clear, transparent, limpid; to be clear, evident, apparent
The English word faint itself goes back to Latin fingō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
faint
Inclined to faint; by circumlocution with verbs under “To FAINT.”
Deprived of strength, etc., languidus: lassus: fessus: defessus (wearied; opposed to integer; SYN. in FATIGUED): to become faint, languescere: elanguescere: a viribus defici: to be faint, languere.
IMPROPR., Not lively or fresh, languidus: languens (without strength or life; of color, look, voice, etc.). A faint color, color languidus, lentus (not lively); color dilutus (washy). To grow or become faint, languescere, evanescere: to be faint, languere.
Feeble, Vid:
Timid, Vid: To damn with faint praise, maligne laudare aliquid (Hor., Ep., 2, 1, 209); *aliquem frigide laudare or *aliquem tarn frigide laudat aliquis, ut paene castigare videatur.
faint v.
PROPR., animus me relinquit or (post- Augustan) linquit: animus me deficit (especially from excessive heat, per aestum): animo linquor (post- Augustan): animo linquor submittorque genu (to fall down in a fainting-fit). I am lying in a fainting-fit, animus me reliquit or liquit; anima defecit (Vid: above); also torpeo (Vid: Curt., 3, 6, 14). Fainting, torpens.
IMPROPR., To be dispirited; Vid: DISPIRITED.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for faint?
- The usual Latin words for “faint” are languidus, lassus, fessus; also dēfetīscor, langueō, languēscō. 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.