English → Latin
“impious” in Latin
impiusdisloyal, undutiful; godless, impious, unpatriotic; damned, accursednefāriusnefarious, execrable, abominable, loathsomenefandusimpious; heinous, execrable, abominablescelestuswicked, villainous, criminal, abominable; calamitous, unfortunatescelerōto defile, contaminate, pollute
The English word impious itself goes back to Latin pius, through impius.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
impious
impius (without love or reverence for God, one’s parents, country, etc.; the object [e.g., erga Deum, erga patriam, erga parentes] must always be added, unless sufficiently implied by the context): nefarius (breaking the laws of God, of natural equity, etc.; of men, their actions and dispositions): nefandus (refers to the abominable wickedness of an action): scelestus: sceleratus (wicked: the former with reference to the mind; the latter to actions). To have committed many impious actions both against the gods and against men, multa et in deos et in homines impie nefarieque commisisse.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for impious?
- The usual Latin words for “impious” are impius, nefārius, nefandus; also scelestus, scelerō. 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.