LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
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“leaf” in Latin

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

leaf s.
(Α) (Α) PROPR., Of a tree, folium: the leaves, folia, frons, frondes (foliage): to come into leaf, folia emittere: in folia exire; frondescere: to be in leaf, frondere: to have many leaves, in frondem luxuriare: full of leaves, foliosus, frondosus: like a leaf, foliaceus: to take off leaves, nudare (arborem) foliis (to deprive of leaves) detrahere folia (arboris), stringere, destringere (to strip off); pampinare vites, or vineam (of a vine): to be lighter than a leaf, folio facilius moveri (Cic., Att., 8, 15, 2): (Β) FIG., (α) A leaf of paper, scida or (not so good) scheda (PROP. a strip of papyrus, of which several were pasted or fastened together to form a sheet; then a strip, or sheet, of paper); plagula (a sheet of paper consisting of strips of papyrus fastened together, twenty of which formed a roll [scapus], Plin., 13, 12, 23); pagina (one side of a sheet, a page, which was usually the only one written on by the ancients; then, by metonymy, for the whole leaf): on the back of a leaf, in aversa charta (Mart.; cliarta, paper, generally): to turn over the leaves of a book, librum evolvere (☞ folium, in this sense, isnol Latin; Vid: Lindemann, vit. Duumvv., p. 28): FIG., I shall turn over a new leaf today, hie dies aliam vitam defert, alios mores postulat (Terentianus): (β) of metal, etc., bractea (a thin plate of metal); lamina (a thicker leaf of metal; e.g., the blade of a saw; then, also, a thin piece of wood for veneering; Vid: Plin., 9, 11, 13; 16, 43, 83); tabula (the leaf of a table): leaves of a door, januae fores, or valvae.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for leaf?
The usual Latin words for “leaf” are folium, frōns, frondēscō; also frondeō, foliōsus, frondōsus. 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.