English → Latin
“food” in Latin
alimentumfood, nourishment, nutriment, sustenance, provisions; obligation to one's parentspenusprovisions, food; the innermost part of a temple of Vesta, the sanctuarycibusfood, fodder; nourishment, sustenance; mealēscafood; fodder; fuel, especially firewoodcibāriuspertaining to, or suitable for foodedūlisediblesūmōto 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
food
alimenta: penus (general terms for victuals; alimenta, mostly with reference to the wants of an individual; penus, to the wants of a whole family = provisions): cibus: esca (“food;” meat, opposed to drink, ☞ Cic., Fin., 1, 11; 2, 28; cibus, natural food, as a means of nourishment; esca, the food that is artificially prepared as a dish; hence cibus, also, of the food of brutes; but esca only a bait, prepared, as it were, like a dish, and set before them): cibaria (the most general and usual sorts of food): edulia (savory and select sorts of food). To take food, cibum capere, sumere, or (of the habit) cibum capessere (e.g., animalia cibum partim dentibus capessunt): to take too much food, little food, etc., Vid: “to EAT much, little,” etc.: to abstain from food, cibo se abstinere; jejunare (to fast): to digest one’s food, cibum conficere or concoquere: to give anybody nothing but his food, aliquem nunquam salario, cibariis tantum sustentare (Suet., Tib., 46).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for food?
- The usual Latin words for “food” are alimentum, penus, cibus; also ēsca, cibārius, edūlis. 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.