What is the Latin word for harden?

The usual Latin words for “harden” are dūrō, dūrēscō, indūrēscō; also obdūrēscō, ferrum, parvulus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“harden” in Latin

dūrōto harden, make hard; to last or endure; to dry dūrēscōto harden, grow hard indūrēscōto harden, set, become hard obdūrēscōto harden; to become insensible, obdurate; to endure, be persistent ferrumiron; any tool made of iron; sword parvuluslittle; tiny; petty; small; slight; paltry; mean; unimportant; insignificant; young; tender of years

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

harden

durare or indurare aliquid (e.g., ferrum): durescere: indurescere: obdurescere (to become or to get hard). To harden the body by work, corpus labore durare: my mind is hardened against pain, obduruit animus ad dolorem novum; by anything, aliqua re (Cic., ad Div., 2, 16, 1): to harden one’s self by work, exercise, se laboribus durare: to have hardened one’s selffrom one’s youth, a parvulo (of several, parvulis) labori et duritiae studere: hardened, duratus; patiens laboris: hardened by work in the fields, rusticis laboribus duratus: harden by military exercises, ab usu armorum duratus.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for harden?: The usual Latin words for “harden” are dūrō, dūrēscō, indūrēscō; also obdūrēscō, ferrum, parvulus. 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.