English → Latin
“ought” in Latin
dēbeōto owe something, to be under obligation to and for something; to be bound, in duty bound to do something; "ought", "musoportetto be necessary, needful; to be proper, becoming, right or reasonable; to behoove; (absolutely) one should or ought todecetto adorn; to be decent, suitable, seemly, or properquispiamanybody, anything; somebody, something
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
ought v.
debeo: oportet (oportet denoting the moral duty; debeo the individual’s obligation to perform it): participle in dus. Sometimes decet (it is becoming), aequum est (it is fair). ☞ “I ought to do it” is facere debeo or me facere oportet: I ought to have done it, facere debebam or debui; or me facere oportebat or oportuit: and ☞ that the indicative is used, even when a conditional sentence is added with verb in imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive; e.g., omnibus cum contumeliis onerasti, quem patris loco, si ulla in te pietas esset, colere debebas (Sall., Jug., 85): so if participle in dus is used; e.g., quodsi Gnaeus Pompeius privatus esset, hoc tempore tamen erat mittendus (Zumpt, 519).
ought
= Any thing, aliquid; res quaepiam; quidpiam.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for ought?
- The usual Latin words for “ought” are dēbeō, oportet, decet; also quispiam. 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.