English → Latin
“pure” in Latin
pūrusclear, limpid; clean; puremundusclean, pure; neat; nice, fine, elegant, sophisticated; decorated, adornedintegercomplete, whole, intact, uninjured, sound, healthycastusmorally pure, guiltless, spotless; especially in regard to sexual morality: pure, chaste, unpolluted, virtuous, continenimpollūtusunstained, unpollutedincontāminātusuncontaminated; undefiled, pureēmendōto free from faults, correct, improve, remedy, amend, revise, cure; to correct by punishment, chastise, atone or compens
The English word pure itself goes back to Latin pūrus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
pure
Free from stains, mixture, etc., purus (without any spot or blemish): mundus (only of solid surfaces, which are free from dirt or stains). (The words are found in this connection and order.) mundus purusque. Pure air, aer purus: pure joy, sincerum gaudium: pure mathematics, *mathesis pura: pure doctrine, formula doctrinae incorrupta: a pure virgin, virgo casta: figuratively, to have pure hands (= not to have stolen anything), manus abstinere alieno; ab alieno abstinere cupiditatem aut manus: pure water, aqua limpida. ☞ Aqua pura is not clear, but unmixed water.
Free from moral impurity, purus, integer. (The words are found in this connection and order.) purus et integer: castus. (The words are found in this connection and order.) purus et castus: castus purusque (both of body and mind): impollutus: incontaminatus. To lead a pure life, sancte vivere.
Of language, purus: emendatus. (The words are found in this connection and order.) purus et emendatus. Pure Latinity, Latinitas pura et emendata: a pure style, pura oratio: pura et incorrupta dicendi consuetudo (Cic.); purus et emendatus sermo (opposed to inquinatus sermo); purum dicendi genus.
Of metals. Pure gold, aurum purum: aurum purum putum: aurum cui obrussa adhibita est: pure silver, aurum purum putum: aurum pustulatum (purified from any admixture of other metals, from all dross).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for pure?
- The usual Latin words for “pure” are pūrus, mundus, integer; also castus, impollūtus, incontāminātus. 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.