English → Latin
“penetrate” in Latin
penetrōto enter; to penetrateintrōto enter, go into, come in, get in, penetrate; to assault, attack; to cross, go beyond, exceedinvādōto enter; to invade; to verbally attack, assail, upbraid, berate, rebuke, castigateīnfluōto flow or run into; to stream, rush or press into; to throng or stream in; enter in large numbersīnfundōto pour in, into, on, upon, or down upon, forth, infusedēscendōto climb down, to go or come down, to descend; to march down; to pierce, to penetrate
The English word penetrate itself goes back to Latin penes, through penētrātus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
penetrate
penetrare, intrare (to enter; PROP. and figuratively): invadere (to rush in; PROP. and figuratively: all three with a simple accusative, or with in and an accusative): influere: infundi (to flow in; of a great number): se insinuare (to penetrate imperceptibly): descendere (to descend, go down; e.g., ferrum haud alte in corpus descendit: ferrum in ilia descendit [poetical]: then, figuratively, of impressions on the mind, etc.; e.g., hoc verbum in pectus ejus alte descendit).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for penetrate?
- The usual Latin words for “penetrate” are penetrō, intrō, invādō; also īnfluō, īnfundō, dēscendō. 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.