English → Latin
“improper” in Latin
propriusappropriate to oneself: (one's) proper, (one's) own (inalienably); belonging to oneself as property, or goods: (one's) oinūtilisuseless, unserviceable, unprofitable; hurtful, injurious; void, null, invalid, without any legal useinhabilisunmanageable, unwieldy; unfit, incapablealiēnusOf that which belongs to another person, place, or object—of another, alien, foreign; unfriendly, inimical, hostile, susindecōrusunbecoming, unseemly, indecorous; disgraceful, shameful; unsightlyindignusunworthy of, undeserving of (with ablative); unbecoming; shamefultropusa figurative use of a word, a trope (postAug. for trānslātiō, verbōrum immūtātiō); a way of singing, a song
The English word improper itself goes back to Latin proprius, through improprius.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
improper
☞ improprius is post-Augustan, but used as a regular grammaticaltechnical term by Quintilian, with reference to words: ἄκυρος; opposed to proprius; e.g., nomen, tropus: so cognomen, Plin., etc.
Not suitable or adapted to an end, inutilis (unserviceable; general term), for anything, alicui rei, or, more commonly, ad aliquid: non idoneus (not suitable or adapted; for anything, ad or [seldom] in aliquid): ad aliquid non aptus (not fit): inhabilis (not manageable; hence not proper), alicui rei or ad aliquid (all four of persons or things): alienus (foreign to the purpose in hand; hence unfavorable, and so not proper; especially of time and place): for anything, alicui rei or ab aliqua re.
Not becoming, indecorus: indignus (unworthy). To be improper, indecorum esse; dedecere or non decere aliquem; indignum esse aliquo. It does not seem improper to mention, etc., non indignum videtur... memorare (Sall.).
Wrong, Vid.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for improper?
- The usual Latin words for “improper” are proprius, inūtilis, inhabilis; also aliēnus, indecōrus, indignus. 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.