English → Latin
“mere” in Latin
sōlusalone, sole, only, by oneself with no others around; solitary, uninhabitedmerussheer, undiluted, pure (especially of wine)sincērusclean, pure, sound; uninjured, whole; real, naturalnūgaejokes, jests; trifles; worthless peopleipsehimself, herself, itself, the very, the actual; specific reference to the chief, the leader, the one, etc., used to dist
The English word mere itself goes back to Latin merus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
mere
solus (not more, and not fewer): merus (pure, without foreign addition; e.g., nugae): sincerus (pure, genuine, nothing else than; e.g., equestre proelium). “Mere” is also, expressed in Latin by ipse (before its noun); e.g., by a mere look, ipso aspectu (Nep. Iph., 3, 1).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for mere?
- The usual Latin words for “mere” are sōlus, merus, sincērus; also nūgae, ipse. 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.