English → Latin
“moral” in Latin
mōrālisOf or pertaining to manners, morals or ethics; moral.bonusgood, honest, brave, noble, kind, pleasant; right; usefulprobusgood, serviceable, excellent, superior, able; upright, honest, virtuous, moral, provenhonestusfull of or regarded with honor; honorable; of high birth; noble; distinguished; respectable; eminent; bring or deservingvērustrue, real, actual (conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct); true, genuine (not counterfeimaximusbiggest, largest; loudest; unencumberedineōto enter, go into; to begin; to have sexual intercourse
The English word moral itself goes back to Latin mōs, through mōrālis.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
moral
moralis, quod ad mores pertinet (relating to manners; ☞ moralis, never = morally good, is a philosophical term, proposed by Cic., De Fat., 1, init., and afterward generally used in the Silver Age): bene or recte moratus, comparative melius moratus, superlative optime moratus (well-disposed, morally good): probus (good): honestus (virtuous; of persons and actions): *quod ad mores formandos pertinet (that relates to the formation of manners; of writings, etc.): moral goodness, honestum; decus, -oris, neuter: moral precepts, *de moribus praecepta: moral behavior, recti mores; vita honesta: to be led purely by moral motives, nulla alia re, nisi honestate duci: moral freedom, motus animorum voluntarius: we are not under any moral necessity, nihil impedit, quominus id, quod maxime placet, facere possumus: to consider anything in a moral point of view, aliquid refene ad mores: moral *philosophy, philosophiae pars moralis (proposed by Cic., De Fat. 1, 1, for the Greek ἠθική, and after him generally adopted; Vid: Sen., Ep., 89, 9, sq.; Tac., Dial., 30, 3; Quint., 6, 2, 8); philosophia, in qua de hominum vita et moribus disputatur (Cic., Brut., 8, 31); haec omnis, quae est de vita et de moribus philosophia (as Cic., Tusc., 3, 4, 8); philosophia quae virtutis, officii et bene vivendi disciplinam continet (Cic., Pis., 29, 71); ea pars philosophiae, qua mores conformari putantur (after Cic., Fin., 4, 2, 4).
Probable, opposed to absolutely certain. Moral certainty, veri similitude: probabilitas magna (Cic., Acad., 2, 24) or maxima. In moral questions we ought to act upon moral certainty, *in rebus, quae ad mores pertinent, ipsam veri similitudinem sequi dehemus (☞ Cic., Acad., 2, 33, 107) or rem assensu nostro comprobatam actio sequi debet (ib.).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for moral?
- The usual Latin words for “moral” are mōrālis, bonus, probus; also honestus, vērus, maximus. 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.