English → Latin
“impure” in Latin
pūrusclear, limpid; clean; pureincestusunclean, impure, polluted, defiled, sinful, unrighteous, criminal; unchaste, lewd, incestuous, lustfulinquinōto pollute, defile, stain, befoul; to corrupt, contaminatespurcusdirty, foul, unclean; morally-polluted, base, meanbarbarusforeign, strange; savage, hostile; barbaric, barbarous, uncivilizedparumvery little; insufficient, not enough, too little
The English word impure itself goes back to Latin pūrus, through impūrus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
impure
PROPR. Not pure, mixed with extraneous ingredients, non purus: (aliqua re) contaminates (polluted by anything; opposed to integer). Impure air, aer non purus: impure water, aqua turbida (Cic.); aqua aliqua re inquinata (ablative of that by which it is rendered impure); aqua limo turbata (muddy, Hor.).
IMPROPR., Of moral impurity, im purus (general term for what is opposed to moral purity: hence, also, unchaste, of persons and things; e.g., mores: ☞ not used PROP., in the best prose): incestus (unchaste): (flagitiis) inquinatus (stained; hence morally impure, of persons or things; with or without flagitiis): spurcus (probably aspirated from porcus; hence PROP., “swinish”: hence foully impure, etc., of persons or things). To lead an impure life, impure atque flagitiose vivere: an impure life, vita parum verecunda; vita libidinibus dedita: impure desires, libidines.
With reference to style, inquinatus (e.g., of words, Cic., Opt. Gen. Or., 3, 7): *non or parum purus (☞ impurus is not found in this sense, but purus is used several times by Quintilian): barbarus (barbarous): parum or minus Latinus (of impure Latin).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for impure?
- The usual Latin words for “impure” are pūrus, incestus, inquinō; also spurcus, barbarus, parum. 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.