What is the Latin word for hardly?

The usual Latin words for “hardly” are aeger, vix, malus; also ferus, dūrus, asper. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“hardly” in Latin

aegersick, ill; weak, feeble; difficult, reluctant, troublesome vixwith difficulty, with effort; scarcely, hardly, barely; hardly, merely, just, scarcely malusunpleasant, distressing, painful, nasty, bad; unpleasant to the senses, sight, smell, taste, touch; bad, evil, wicked, m feruswild, savage, fierce, cruel; uncivilized, uncultivated; untamed, rough dūrushard; rough; harsh; hardy; vigorous asperrough, uneven, coarse; unrefined, rude; sharp, newly minted acerbusharsh, bitter, unripe, sour, premature, not yet marriageable; sharp, severe, bitter (i.e., extremely painful); rough, vi

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

hardly

With difficulty, aegre (opposed to secure and facile): vix (scarcely; ☞ vix refers to the action that was hardly accomplished; aegre to the person who, with weariness and misgivings, was, after all, near being unsuccessful); (The words are found in this connection and order.) vix aegreque: non facile (not easily): male (of what is but imperfectly done, if at all; e.g., male cohaerere; male se continere; male sustinere arma, etc.; according to Ruhnken, ad Vell., 2, 47, 2, stronger than aegre and non facile). Hardly, if at all, vix vixque; vix aut ne vix quidem; vix aut omnino non: to be hardly able to restrain one’s self, vix se continere posse; aegre se tenere.

Scarcely, vix: fere (after negatives). Hardly anybody, vix quisquam; nemo fere: hardly anything, nihil fere; vix quidquam. Hardly ever, numquam fere. ☞ there is an infinitive and a finite verb, the vix should precede the finite verb; thus, dici vix potest, or vix potest dici (not vix dici potest). (α) Hardly = only just now, vixdum: vix tandem (☞ not vix alone): tantum quod (not tantum alone): modo: (β) Hardly... when, vix or vixdum... cum: commodum or commode... cum: tantum quod... cum. I had hardly read your letter when Curt. came to me, vixdum epistolam tuam legeram, cum ad me Curt. venit. Hirtius was hardly gone when the courier arrived, commodum discesserat Hirt., cum tabellarius venit. (γ) Not only not... but hardly, non solum or modo (for non solum or modo non)... sed vix (e.g., haec... non solum in moribus nostris, sed vix jam in libris reperiuntur). (δ) Hardly... not to say, vix... nedum; vixdum... nedum. (ε) Hardly, with numerals; vix (e.g., vix ad quingentos). ☞ In such a sentence as, “I hardly restrained myself, but I did restrain myself,” vix is followed by sed tamen; vix me tenui, sed tenui tamen.

Harshly, dure: durius: duriter: aspere: acerbe. To treat anybody hardly, aspere aliquem tractare or habere; severius adhibere aliquem: to bring anybody up hardly, dure atque aspere educare aliquem.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for hardly?: The usual Latin words for “hardly” are aeger, vix, malus; also ferus, dūrus, 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.