English → Latin
“meagre” in Latin
macerlean, skinny, meager; thin, poorstrigōsuslean, meagregracilisslender, slim, thin; meager, scanty, lean; unadorned, simpleexīlissmall, thin, slender; lank, meagre, feeble, inadequate; of the sound l, palatalizedāridusdry, parched, withered, arid; dry, lean, meagre, shrivelled; withered (e.g. from disease); uninspired, jejune, spiritlessterilisbarren, sterile; unprofitable, futilemacilentuslean, thin, meagre
The English word meagre itself goes back to Latin macer.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
meagre
macer (the proper word; opposed to pinguis; not fleshy or fat; also of the soil): strigosus, strigosi corporis (not corpulent; opposed to obesus): gracilis (slim, slender, lank; opposed to obesus: of men or animals; also of parts of men or animals): exilis (thin, not plump, of parts of men or animals; opposed to plenus; also of the soil, and figuratively, of a writing or of a speech); (The words are found in this connection and order.) exilis et macer; aridus (of food, without nourishment, and of the soil; also, figuratively, empty, poor; opposed to copiosus): sterilis (opposed to fertilis): somewhat meagre, macilentus: a meagre treatise, libellus exilis: a meagre subject (for treating of), res jejuna (opposed to copiosa): to make meagre, facere (ut) macrescat aliquis (a living being): emaciare (also the soil; ☞ miciare occurs first in Solinus): to grow or become meagre, macescere, emacescere (of living beings, parts of the body, and of the soil): macrescere, emacrescere (only of living beings): meagre fare, victus aridus (not nutritious): victus tenuis (scanty): ☞ not famelicus, which Muretus uses in this sense.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for meagre?
- The usual Latin words for “meagre” are macer, strigōsus, gracilis; also exīlis, āridus, sterilis. 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.