What is the Latin word for hook?

The usual Latin words for “hook” are hāmus, uncus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“hook” in Latin

hāmusA hook; A fishhook; The barb of an arrow uncushooked, curved, barbed; crooked, bent

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

hook s.

hamus (general term): uncus (such as was fixed under the chin of condemned persons when they were dragged to the Tiber; also, for surgical purposes; Cels.): fish-hook, hamus or hamus piscarius: to fish with a hook, [Vid: “to FISH with a rod “]: to throw in the hook, hamum demittere: to bite at the hook, hamum vorare: the fish swims to the hook, piscis decurrit ad hamum (Hor., Ep., 1, 4, 74).

hook v.

inuncare aliquid or aliquem (to attack with hooks; e.g., a lamb with claws; Apul., Flor., p. 341, 9); uncum impingere or infigere alicui (to fix a hook in anybody’s body, in order to drag him along, as was done at Rome to criminals; Vid: Cic., Phil., 1, 2, 5; Ov., in lb., 166).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for hook?: The usual Latin words for “hook” are hāmus, uncus. 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.