English → Latin
“listen” in Latin
aucuporto go bird-catching or fowling; to catch or take bees; to chase, strive for; to be on the lookout, lie in wait or watch sublegōto gather or pick up or from below, gather or search for underneath; to take away secretly or by stealth; listen to secrcircumspiciōto look around, over, for, upon; to survey, examine or review; to seek or search for, look about for something with desi
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
listen
To hearken, subauscultare aliquid; sermonem alicujus captare, aucupare, or sublegere (comedy): to listen at the door to a conversation, aure foribus admota sermonem captare (Ter., Phorm., 5, 6, 27, sqq.): he listened to all I said, subauscultando excepit voces meas et procul quid narrarem attendit (Cic., Or., 2, 36, 153): ☞ excipere sermonem alicujus does not mean “to listen,” but “to catch up anyone’s words.” See whether anyone is listening, circumspice, num quis est, qui sermonem nostrum aucupet, or ne quis nostro hinc sermoni auceps sit (comedy).
To give attention, Vid: ATTEND.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for listen?
- The usual Latin words for “listen” are aucupor, sublegō, circumspiciō. 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.