English → Latin
“fatal” in Latin
fātālisof fate, destined, predestined; fatal, deadlyperniciōsusdestructive, ruinous, baleful, perniciousmortiferdeadly, fatal, lethalmiserpoor, wretched, pitiful; miserable, unhappy; worthless, nullīnfēlīxunhappy, unfortunate; unlucky; unfruitfullūctuōsussorrowful, sad; lamentable, doleful, mournful
The English word fatal itself goes back to Latin fātus, through fātālis.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
fatal
fatalis (determined by fate; dependent on fate; and then fatally unfortunate, untoward): perniciosus (hurtful, ruinous). In a less strong sense, miser, infelix, luctuosus. By this fatal war, hoc misero fatalique bello.
Causing death, mortifer. A fatal disease, gravis et mortifer morbus: to have a disorder that will prove fatal, gravi et mortifero morbo affectum esse; mortifero morbo correptum esse; mortifere aegrotare (Plaut.).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for fatal?
- The usual Latin words for “fatal” are fātālis, perniciōsus, mortifer; also miser, īnfēlīx, lūctuōsus. 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.