What is the Latin word for misery?

The usual Latin words for “misery” are miseria, aegritūdō, aegrimōnia; also dolor, trīstitia, angō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“misery” in Latin

miseriamisfortune; misery (great unhappiness)aegritūdōillness, sickness; grief, sorrow aegrimōniamental or emotional distress (anxiety, sorrow, etc.)dolorpain, ache, hurt; anguish, grief, sorrow; indignation, resentment, anger, fury, vengeance trīstitiasadness, sorrow, melancholy, sloth; the (sad) state of things; moroseness, sourness angōto bind, draw, press together; to choke, throttle, strangle (replaced in Classical Latin by suffoco); to cause physical maerormourning, grief, lamentation; sorrow afflictātĭopain aerumnaneed, want; trouble, toil, hardship; distress, tribulation, calamity vexātiōshaking (or similar violent movement); agitation; discomfort, annoyance, hardship, distress

The English word misery itself goes back to Latin miser, through miseria.

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

misery

miseria (wretchedness): aegritudo, aegrimonia (opposed to alacritas; sickness of mind from a sense of present evil: the latter implying that it is an abiding sense): dolor (opposed to gaudium, a present sense of hardship, pain, or grief): tristitia, msestitia (the natural, involuntary manifestation of grief): angor (passionate, tormenting apprehension of coming evil: sollicitudo being the anxious unsettling apprehension of it): maeror (is stronger than dolor, being the feeling and its manifestation): afflictatio (= “aegritudo cum vexatione corporis,” Cic.): aerumnae: vexationes (great trouble): egestas (extreme poverty): calamitas (misery occasioned by great damage or loss: also in war): res miserae or afflictae (lamentable condition). The misery of the times, angustiae temporum: tempora luctuosa: to pine away in misery, miseria or in calamitate tabescere. To be in misery, in miseria esse or versari, miserum esse, in summa infelicitate versari; in malis esse, jacere; malis urgeri; in malis versari; pessimo loco esse; iniquissima fortuua uti: angi; angore confici; angoribus premi, agitari, urgeri; angi intimis sensibus: angore cruciari: about anything, dolere or maerere rem, or re; dolorem ex re capere, accipere, suscipere, haurire; molestiam trahere ex re (to feel oppressed and dispirited by it): to be in great misery about anything, magnum dolorem ex re accipere; ex re magnam animo molestiam capere: to come into misery, in miseriam incidere; in mala praecipitare: to relieve anybody from misery, miseriis aliquem levare: to deliver from misery, a miseria vindicare; ex miseriis eripere: to endure misery, miserias ferre, aerumnas perpeti (i. e., patiently to the end).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for misery?: The usual Latin words for “misery” are miseria, aegritūdō, aegrimōnia; also dolor, trīstitia, angō. 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.