English → Latin
“falsehood” in Latin
vānitāsemptiness, nothingness; falsity, falsehood, deception, untruth, untrustworthiness, fickleness; vanity, vaingloryfallōto deceive, beguile, trick, cheat, delude, ensnare, disappoint; to mistake, be mistaken, deceive oneself; to escape the vānusvain, empty, vacant, void; unsubstantial; groundless, baseless, meaningless, pointless, worthless, ineffectual, mindlessmendāciumA lie, untruth, falsehood, fiction.; An illusion, counterfeit.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
falsehood s.
Falseness, vanitas, or by circumlocution with adjectives; e.g., to prove the falsehood of anything, aliquid falsum esse probare (Quint.). ☞ Falsitas is not found till Arnobius; modern editors discard it from Cic., Cluent., 2.
A false thing, falsum: vanum: mendacium (a lie): not to utter a falsehood, nihil falsi dicere; non mentiri; verum dicere. Vid: LIE.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for falsehood?
- The usual Latin words for “falsehood” are vānitās, fallō, vānus; also mendācium. 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.