LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
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“punishment” in Latin

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

punishment
The act of punishing, punitio (Valerius Max., 8, 1, 1): castigatio (a chastising): multatio (especially by a fine, or loss of life): or by the verbs.
That which is imposed or inflicted as a penalty, poena (as that which is to atone for a crime): noxa (as suffering incurred in consequence of a crime), mulcta or (more commonly) multa, multatio (punishment considered as a loss, especially in money; a fine): damnum (reparation, in money): lis: lis aestimata (legal damages): supplicium (severe corporal punishment; scourging, death): animadversio (as a means of manifesting the displeasure of him who punishes): castigatio (chastisement, designed for the benefit of the sufferer). (The words are found in this connection and order.) animadversio et castigatio. Capital punishment, poena vitae or capitis; supplicium capitis; ultimum or extremum supplicium: dread of punishment, metus poenae or animadversionis: to inflict punishment, punire aliquem; poena afficere aliquem; poena aliquem multare; poenam capere de aliquo; poenam petere or repetere de aliquo; poenas expetere ab aliquo or in aliquem; poenam statuere or constituere in aliquem; poenam alicui irrogare; supplicio afficere or punire aliquem; supplicium sumere de aliquo: to suffer punishment, poenam pendere, dependere, expendere, solvere, persolvere, dare, subire, perferre, luere, or ferre; supplicium dare, solvere, pendere, luere, or subire (generally of the crime for which). To suffer punishment from anybody, or at anybody’s hands, poenas alicui dare, pendere, or dependere; supplicium alicui dare: to suffer merited punishment, meritam poenam or meritas poenas accipere; poenas merito luere; jure plecti; also, poenam dignam suo scelere suscipere (Cic.): to be suffering merited punishment, meritam poenam or meritas poenas habere (of a continued state). ☞ To punish anybody in behalf of anybody, is pro aliquo poenas capere in Sall.; but the usual form is alicujus poenas capere, persequi, etc. (Krebs). To bring anybody to punishment, in poenam aliquem detrudere: to incur or render one’s self liable to punishment, poenam sibi contrahere; poenam or multam committere: to fix a punishment, poenam constituere, dicere (irrogare, post-Augustan; in earlier times it meant, to propose a punishment to be inflicted by the people).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for punishment?
The usual Latin words for “punishment” are pūnītiō, castīgātiō, multātiō; also poena, noxa, multa. 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.