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“habit” in Latin

The English word habit itself goes back to Latin habeō, through habitus.

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

habit
Dress, Vid:
State of things, habitus (also of constitutional temperament; e.g., habitu... ut facile et cito irascatur, Cic., Top., 16, 62); also, naturae ipsius hahitus: a habit of body, corporis affectio, constitutio [Vid. CONDITION, CONSTITUTION].
Custom, consuetude: ☞ rassuetudo not Cic., but Varr. [amor assuetudinis] Ov., Liv. [assuetudo mali], Tac. [natura sive assuetudine], etc. mos: institutum [SYN. in CUSTOM]. ☞ hahitus,” the state in which anything se habet,” often approaches very near to the meaning of “habit,” e.g., Justitia est habitus animi communi utilitate conservata, etc., Cic.; hominem ad rationis habitum perducere, Cic.; suoque potius habitu vitam degere (Phaedrus). The habit of sinning, consuetudo peccandi; of speaking, loquendi: after my (his, etc.) habit, as my (his, etc.) habit is, (ex) consuetudine; (ex) more; pro mea consuetudine; (ex) instituto meo; ut or quemadmodum consuevi: against (my, etc.) usual habit, praeter consuetudinem; contra morem consuetudinemque: the Greeks are in the habit of, etc., est consuetudo or mos Graecorum, followed by infinitive or ut, etc.; est Graecae consuetudinis or moris Graeci, ut, etc.; apud Graecos ea consuetudo est, ut (Caes., B.G., 1, 50): it is the habit here (= of this country), est usu receptum; est institutum: to retain a habit, consuetudinem (meam, etc.) tenere, retinere, servare. I have always retained this habit, or been in the habit of acting thus in political matters, eam (hanc, etc.) consuetudinem in republica semper habui (Cic., Phil., 1, 11, 27): to retain the good old habit of anything, retinere veterem illum alicujus rei morem (e.g., officii, Cic., Planc., 6, 22): to have a habit, consuetudinem habere (as Cic., Phil., 1, 11, 27, sin consuetudinem meam, quam in republica semper habui, tenuero): to have the habit of, etc., assuevisse, consuevisse (to have accustomed one’s self), or solere (to be in the habit), with infinitive (e.g., qui mentiri solet, pejerare consuevit): to adopt a habit, consuetudinem asciscere (e.g., lubenter, Cic., Brut., 57, fin.): to induce anybody to adopt the same habit as one’s self, induco aliquem in meam consuetudinem: to train anybody to the habit of anything, assuefacere aliquem aliqua re (e.g., disciplina): anything grows into a habit, in consuetudinem or morem venire: anything grows a habit with me, in consuetudinem alicujus rei venio or me adduco. To get the habit of anything, alicujus rei sibi naturam facere (Quint., 2, 2, 17): anybody gets into the habit of, etc., aliquis in eam consuetudinem venit or in eam se consuetudinem adducit, ut, etc.: this is becoming a habit, consuetudo inveterascit: to introduce a habit, consuetudinem introducere: to keep to one’s old habit or habits, institutum suum tenere; nihil mutare de consuetudine sua: to give up or depart from a habit, consuetudine recedere: to give up or depart from one’s usual habit, a pristina consuetudine deflectere; gradually, consuetudinem minuere: to be the slave of habit, consuetudini servire: to endeavor to bring anybody back to his old habit, revocare ad pristinam consuetudinem: to reintroduce an old habit, veterem consuetudinem referre. Demosthenes was in the habit of reciting aloud several verses without taking breath, Demosthenes summa voce versus multos uno spiritu pronunciare consuescebat (Cic.; i. e., accustomed himself to do it by practice). PROV. Habit grows into a second nature, consuetudine quasi altera quaedam natura efficitur (Cic., De Fin., 5, 25, 74), or vetus consuetudo obtinet vim naturae (Cic., De Invent., 1, 2, 3): the habit of acting right has become a second nature to me, mihi bene facere ex consuetudine in naturam vertit (Sall., Jug., 85, 4): a bad, long, barbarous, etc., habit, consuetudo mala (Hor.), longa, vetus (Quint.); immanis ac barbara (Cic.): it was very important that the habit of discipline should be formed in our troops, ad disciplinam militiae plurimum intererat insuescere militem nostrum: my father had established in his family the habit of speaking correctly, patrio fuit instituto puro sermone assuefacta domus (Cic.). Vid: CUSTOM.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for habit?
The usual Latin words for “habit” are habeō, īnstituō, cōnstitūtiō. 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.