What is the Latin word for pitiful?

The usual Latin words for “pitiful” are misericors, malus, miser; also vir, nēquam. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“pitiful” in Latin

misericorsmerciful, compassionate; tenderhearted, sympathetic; mean, pitiful, contemptible malusunpleasant, distressing, painful, nasty, bad; unpleasant to the senses, sight, smell, taste, touch; bad, evil, wicked, m miserpoor, wretched, pitiful; miserable, unhappy; worthless, null virman (adult male human); brave or courageous man, hero, warrior; husband nēquamworthless, good-for-nothing; wretched, vile

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

pitiful

Compassionate, misericors, toward anybody, in aliquem (general term): ad misericordiam propensus (given or inclined to pitiful): very pitiful, misericordia singulari (vir): to show one’s self pitiful toward anybody, misericordem esse or misericordia uti in aliquem; misericordem se praebere in aliquem.

Wretched, mean, malus: miser. A pitiful fellow, homo malus, nequam, improbus ac nefarius.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for pitiful?: The usual Latin words for “pitiful” are misericors, malus, miser; also vir, nēquam. 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.