English → Latin
“gnaw” in Latin
rōdōto gnaw, nibble, bite; eat or waste away, corrode, consume; erode; to slander, disparage, backbiteexedōto eat up, devour, consume; to corrodepungōto prick; to puncture; to stingcruciōto crucify; to torturecareōto lack, be without. (usually with ablative), to be deprived of; to be separated from
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
gnaw
rodere, arrodere, derodere aliquid: circumrodere aliquid (to gnaw round about): praerodere (to gnaw at one end): exedere (to eat away or through; of animals, corroding substances, rust; and figuratively, of cares, anxieties, etc.; edere is poetical in this sense). To gnaw through anything, aliquid exedere et perrumpere: trouble, etc., is gnawing at my heart, aegritudo me or animum meum exest, pungit, or cruciat: gnawing cares, sollicitudines mordaces (Hor., Od. l, 18, 4): a kind of gnawing pain, quasi morsus qs doloris.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for gnaw?
- The usual Latin words for “gnaw” are rōdō, exedō, pungō; also cruciō, careō. 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.