English → Latin
“pity” in Latin
misericordiapity, compassion, mercy, lovingkindness, tenderness, heartedness; wretchedness, misery; pathosmiserātiōpity, compassion, commiserationcommiserātiōan appeal to compassionmisereōto lament, bewail or deplore; to pity or feel sorry formiserorto lament, bewail or deplore; to have pity or mercy, feel sorry foragōto act, to behave; to do; to make (something that does not continue to exist after the maker stops)
The English word pity itself goes back to Latin pius, through pietās.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
pity s.
Compassion, misericordia (the feeling of compassion): miseratio, commiseratio (manifestation of compassion) [Vid: COMPASSION].
A thing to be lamented, res dolenda, etc. It is a pity that, etc., dolendum est, quod, etc.: incommode accidit, ut, etc.: it is a pity that he is dead, *mors ejus dolenda est: it is a pity that he lost the money, *dolenda est jactura pecuniae: it is a thousand pities, maxime miserandum or dolendum est, quod, etc.: *numquam satis lugere or dolere possumus (e.g., jacturam, quam fecimus in aliquo or aliqua re).
pity v.
misereri, commisereri alicujus: miseret me alicujus: misericordia alicujus commotum or captum esse (to pity anybody): misericordia aliquem or aliquid prosequi: misericordiam alicui impertire: miserari, commiserari aliquid (to pity and show the pity at the same time; Vid: Bremi, Nep., Ages., 5, 2): to pity anybody’s fate, misfortune, alicujus fortunam commiserari; casum alicujus miserari.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for pity?
- The usual Latin words for “pity” are misericordia, miserātiō, commiserātiō; also misereō, miseror, agō. 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.