English → Latin
“hard” in Latin
dūrushard; rough; harsh; hardy; vigoroussolidusdense, solid, not hollow; whole, entire, thorough, full; firmrigidusstiff, rigid, hard, inflexible; stern, strict, severe, hard, inflexiblecrūdusraw, bloody, bleeding; immature, unripe, premature; unprepared, raw, uncookedcallōsuswith a hard skin, hard-skinned, thick-skinned, callous; solid, tough, hard, thickasperrough, uneven, coarse; unrefined, rude; sharp, newly mintedacerbusharsh, bitter, unripe, sour, premature, not yet marriageable; sharp, severe, bitter (i.e., extremely painful); rough, viferreusiron, made of iron; like or pertaining to iron; hard, cruelhorridusrough, bristly, shaggy; rude, rough, uncouth, unpolished, untrimmed; awful, dreadful, horrible, horrid, frightful, fearfmolestustroublesome, irksome, grievous, annoying, tiresome
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
hard
PROPR., not soft, durus (general term; e.g., stone, skin, water): solidus (firm, solid; e.g., wood, iron): rigidus (that does not bend, brittle): crudus (still unripe, of fruit, ὠμός): callosus (as skin, hand, etc.): asper (rough to the taste and touch): acerbus (rough to the taste): rather hard, duriusculus: very hard, perdurus: hard wood, also robur (PROP., wood of the ever-green oak): a hard cushion, culcita, quae corpori resistit: hard-boiled eggs, ova dura (‘opposed to mollia): to make anything hard, durare; indurare.
IMPROPR., unpleasant, against good taste, durus: asper: ferreus: horridus [Vid: HARSH]: rather hard, duriusculus (e.g., verse).
Yielding with difficulty; hence oppressive, durus: molestus (troublesome): gravis (pressing, heavy): acer (violent, etc.): acerbus (harsh): iniquus (not according to the laws of equity; hence oppressive, hard). Very hard, atrox (fearful): saevus (furious): a hard-fought buttle [Vid: HARD-FOUGHT]: hard work, labor gravis or molestus: a hard winter, hiems gravis or acris: very hard, hiems atrox or saeva: hard times, tempora dura, gravia, acerba, iniqua, aspera, luctuosa: temporum acerbitas, or iniquitas, or atrocitas: temporum calamitates: a hard rule, imperium grave, or iniquum, or acerbum; imperii acerbitas.
Severe, unmerciful, durus: asper: asperi animi (rough): immitis (not mild): severus (severe): acerbus (without indulgence): atrox (fearful, very hard, inhuman; rather poetical): a hard man, homo durus: vir severitatis durae (inexorable): homo asper (rough toward those about him).
Difficult, Vid: Hard to please, difficilis: hard of hearing, surdaster (Cic., Tusc., 5, 40, 116); to be, etc., graviter audire or gravitate auditus laborare; aures hebetiores habere.
hard adv.
dure: duriter: aspere: acerbe [SYN. in HARD, adjective]: to work hard at anything, multo sudore et labore facere aliquid; desudare et laborare in re; animo toto et studio omni in aliquid ineumbere: too hard, laboribus se frangere; laboribus confici: it rains hard [Vid: To RAIN]: to drink hard, potare: vino deditum esse.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for hard?
- The usual Latin words for “hard” are dūrus, solidus, rigidus; also crūdus, callōsus, asper. 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.