LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
English → Latin

“finish” in Latin

The English word finish itself goes back to Latin fīnis, through fīniō.

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

finish
TRANS., finire: terminare (denote the mere ending without reference to how far the object of the action has been attained; finire, opposed to incipere; terminare, opposed to continuare): consummare: absolvere: perficere (denote the completing a work, the bringing it to a proper and satisfactory end; consummare, as the most general term, opposed to leaving it half finished; absolvere, opposed to inchoare, denotes a duty fulfilled, a difficult task ended, so that the person is now free; perficere, opposed to conari, refers to an object attained; to a task of one’s own choice, which may now be considered perfectly accomplished, etc.): conficere (to finish anything made up of several actions; e.g., bellum): finem alicui rei afferre: aliquid ad finem adducere or perducere (to bring anything to a conclusion): aliquid transigere (to conclude or settle some business): aliquid profligare (to despatch it, with a single stroke as it were): efficere (to bring about, to effect, if the final object has been obtained; libri ad Varronem sunt effecti, Cic.): exsequi (to execute according to prescription, order; e.g., officium, alicujus mandata): peragere (to carry through, if the business required constant activity to the end; e.g., fabulam, consulatum): potrare (to present something as actually effected, completed, when the author and effect are clearly seen; e.g., caedem, bellum, incepta): perpetrare (to bring about completely, with reference to publicity; non creditur, nisi perpetratum, facinus, Liv.). ☞ It is but seldom that Cic. and Caes. use finire aliquid, except in the sense of putting a limit to anything, defining anything, etc.: to finish a letter, epistolam concludes; a war, bellum conficere, perficere or comprimere, but also finire. Again, finire cannot well stand intransitively, or rather absolutely, without object expressed: to give anything the finishing stroke, aliquid absolvere or perficere; perpolire atque conficere: extremam or summam manum imponere alicui rei (Verg., Aen., 7, 537; Sen., Ep., 12, 4; Quint., prooem., 4). [Vid: To END, COMPLETE.]
Finished, absolutus: perfectus (absolutely, is extensive, referring to the completeness of the work; perfectus, intensive, referring to its excellence): Vid: End, INTRANS.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for finish?
The usual Latin words for “finish” are fīniō, terminō, cōnsummō; also absolvō, perficiō, cōnficiō. 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.