What is the Latin word for ill-natured?

The usual Latin words for “ill-natured” are malevolus, malevolēns, difficilis; also iūrgiōsus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“ill-natured” in Latin

malevolusdisaffected, envious, spiteful, malevolent malevolēnsspiteful, malevolent; disaffected, envious difficilisdifficult, hard, troublesome; obstinate, intractable, hard to please or manage iūrgiōsusquarrelsome

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

ill-natured

malevolus: malevolens (SYN. in ILL-NATURE; also of things, malevolentissimae obtrectationes, Cic.): difficilis: difficili natura (hard to please, cross-grained, etc): jurgiosus (quarrelsome; Gell.): natura improbus (of a naturally wicked disposition).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for ill-natured?: The usual Latin words for “ill-natured” are malevolus, malevolēns, difficilis; also iūrgiōsus. 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.