English → Latin
“legitimate” in Latin
certuscertain; fixed, settled, firm; resolved, determinedlēgitimuslawful, legal, legitimate; legal (of or pertaining to the law); legitimate (born of married parents)iūstusjust, righteous; lawful, legal; justified, merited, well-deserved, dueuxora wife, a spouse, a consortoriorto rise, get up; to appear, arise, become visible; to be born, come to exist, originatevērustrue, real, actual (conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct); true, genuine (not counterfeisincērusclean, pure, sound; uninjured, whole; real, naturalgermānusof brothers or sisters; full, own; true, natural, authentic
The English word legitimate itself goes back to Latin lēx, through lēgitimātus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
legitimate
Lawful [Vid: LAWFUL].
Born in wedlock, certus (whose origin is certain; opposed to spurius); legitimus, justa, uxore, or matre familias natus, or ortus (born in lawful wedlock; opposed to nothus, pellice ortus).
Genuine, verus; sincerus; germanus.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for legitimate?
- The usual Latin words for “legitimate” are certus, lēgitimus, iūstus; also uxor, orior, vērus. 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.