English → Latin
“nail” in Latin
clāvusa nail (metal spike); rudder; helm (of a boat)resecōto cut off or loose; to curtail, stop; to check, restrain
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
nail s.
On the finger or toes, unguis. Long nails, ungues eminentes (Ov., A.A., 1, 519; et nihil emineant ungues, i. e., one ought not to have long nails): dirty nails, ungues sordidi (loc. cit., et sint sine sordibus ungues): to pare the nails, ungues recidere, or resecare, or subsecare: to bite the nails, ungues rodere (Hor., Sat., 1, 10, 71): to move not a nail’s breadth, aliquo loco non unguem latum excedere: to swerve not a nail’s breadth from anything, transversum unguem ab aliqua re non recedere.
A small spike or stud, clavus. A large nail for fastening beams, clavus trabalis: shoe nails, clavi caligares: to drive a nail, clavum figere or defigere in aliqua re; clavum adigere in aliquid: you have hit the right nail on the head, rem acu tetigisti (Plaut., Rud., 5, 2, 19): to be a nail in one’s coffin, causam mortis esse.
A measure of length, *digiti duo cum quadrante.
nail v.
clavis affigere aliquid: clavis firmare or munire aliquid; to anything, alicui rei or ad aliquid; clavis configere aliquid aliqua re (to fasten anything with nails).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for nail?
- The usual Latin words for “nail” are clāvus, resecō. 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.