English → Latin
“indistinct” in Latin
obscūrusdark, dusky, shadowy; indistinct, unintelligible, obscure; intricate, involved, complicatedperplexusentangled, involved, intricate, confused; unintelligible, complicated, intricate, inscrutable, ambiguous; dark, obscurecōnfundōto pour, mingle, stir up; to diffuse, suffuse, spread over; to unite, mix together, join, combine, mingleōrātiōspeech, discourse, language; the power of speech; manner or style of speakingverbumword; proverb, saying; verbrespondeōto reply, answer, respond; to offer or present in return; to measure upsermōa conversation, discussion; a rumor, diction, speech, talk, discourse; a language, manner of speakingexplānōto flatten or spread out; to explain
The English word indistinct itself goes back to Latin distīnctus, through indistinctus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
indistinct
minus clarus (not clear; not easily perceived by the eyes or ears): obscurus (dark, unintelligible; oratio, verba, etc.): perplexus (confused; enigmatic; responsum, sermones): confusus (confused; e.g., clamor). An indistinct hand, litterae minus compositae nee clarae (after Cic., Att., 6, 9, 1): indistinct utterance, os confusum (opposed to os planum or explanatum): an indistinct voice, vox obtusa (thick; opposed to vox clara): vox perturbata (inarticulate; opposed to explanabilis).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for indistinct?
- The usual Latin words for “indistinct” are obscūrus, perplexus, cōnfundō; also ōrātiō, verbum, respondeō. 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.