What is the Latin word for grief?

The usual Latin words for “grief” are aegritūdō, dolor, maeror; also lūctus, trīstitia, maestitia. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“grief” in Latin

aegritūdōillness, sickness; grief, sorrow dolorpain, ache, hurt; anguish, grief, sorrow; indignation, resentment, anger, fury, vengeance maerormourning, grief, lamentation; sorrow lūctusa mourning, grieving; grief, sorrow; lamentation trīstitiasadness, sorrow, melancholy, sloth; the (sad) state of things; moroseness, sourness maestitiasadness, sorrow, grief, dejection, melancholy

The English word grief itself goes back to Latin gravis.

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

grief

aegritudo (the most general expression for any disturbance of a person’s peace of mind): dolor (ἄλγος, the inward feeling of pain or sorrow; opposed to gaudium): moeror (inward grief, as outwardly manifesting itself by involuntary signs; grief to which one surrenders one’s self, especially grief for the loss of a beloved object; as adding the outward manifestation to the inward feeling, it may be stronger than dolor; e.g., magno in dolore sum vel in moerore potius, Plin.; it may, however, be contrasted with it; moerorem minui; dolorem nec potui, nec si possem vellem, Cic.): luctus (grief manifesting itself by the conventional signs of mourning, πένθος): tristitia (sadness, on its gloomy forbidding side): moestitia (on its melancholy, interesting side). Grief of mind, dolor animi. To be suffering grief, in moerore esse, moerere: to be oppressed with grief, in moerore jacere; moerore affici or urgeri: to cause anybody grief, sollicitudine or moerore afficere aliquem (the former of the grief of anxiety; e.g., the grief caused by a profligate son); aegritudinem or moerorem afferre alicui: to give one’s self up to grief, moerori animum dare; aegritudini se dedere; for grief, prae aegritudine or moerore: since I have caused you grief, quoniam ex me doluisti (Cic.). A son who never caused his father grief but by his death, ex quo nihil unquam doluit [pater], nisi cum is non fuit (Inscript.).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for grief?: The usual Latin words for “grief” are aegritūdō, dolor, maeror; also lūctus, trīstitia, maestitia. 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.