What is the Latin word for lazy?

The usual Latin words for “lazy” are ignāvus, piger, socors; also sēgnis, dēses, iners. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“lazy” in Latin

ignāvuslazy, slothful, inactive, sluggish; unproductive, idle; cowardly pigerbackward, slow, dull, lazy, indolent, sluggish, unwilling, motionless, inactive, inert; unwilling, reluctant, averse socorsfoolish, silly; sluggish, inert, inactive, dull (lacking in vitality or alertness); taking no interest in sēgnisslow, tardy, torpid, inactive, unenergetic, lazy dēsesidle inerswithout skill, unskilled, unskillful, incompetent, crude; inactive, lazy, idle, indolent, sluggish, inert; worthless; st cessōto stop, desist, halt, cease; to be lacking or wanting; to delay, hold back, tarry

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

lazy

ignavus; piger; socors; segnis; deses; iners [SYN. in IDLENESS]: a lazy fellow, homo deses; homo desidiosus, or iners et desidiosus; cessator (a lazy slave, who neglects his work): to be too lazy to do anything, pigrari aliquid facere (Cic.): to be lazy, ignavum esse; laboris fugientem esse: to be abominably lazy, inertissimae esse segnitiae: to be growing abominably lazy, socordiae se atque ignaviae tradere; languori se desidiaeque tradere: don’t be too lazy to send me all the news, quidquid novi scribere ne pigrere (Cic.): lazy in doing anything, piger ad aliquid faciendum (e.g., ad litteras scribendas): lazy in anything, piger ad aliquid [Vid: IDLE]: to lead a lazy life, vitam desidem degere.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for lazy?: The usual Latin words for “lazy” are ignāvus, piger, socors; also sēgnis, dēses, iners. 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.