English → Latin
“rain” in Latin
pluviarain; a shower (of something)imberrain; a storm; a stormcloudnimbusrainstorm, rain shower; rain cloud, thunder cloud, storm cloud; cloudnūbilōto be or become cloudy or overcast; to become clouded or opaque; to overshadow, to obscure, to darken, to adumbratepluōalternative form of pluit (“to rain”); to cause it to rainlacmilk; for something sweet, pleasant; milky juicelapisstone; milestone; boundary stone
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
rain s.
pluvia (as a beneficial natural phenomenon): imber (a shower): nimbus (of rain attended with cloudy weather; aquae coelestes is poetical). A drizzling rain, pluvia tenuissima: a sudden shower of rain, pluvia repentina; imber repente effusus; imber subitus: heavy rains, aquae magnae (Liv.): heavy and continued rains, imbres magni et assidui: we shall have rain, imbres imminent: nubilatur or nubilare coepit: we shall have rain today, hodie pluet: the rains have swelled the river, aqua pluendo crescit: the rain beats against my face, imber in os fertur: the rain does not cease, imber non remittit (Vid: Liv., 40, 33): the rain comes through the roof, ex imbribus aqua perpluit; tectum imbres transmittit (Vid: Rlinius, 18, 11, 29): much rain fell that year, aquas magnae et ingentes eo anno fuerunt: during the rain, in imbri per imbrem; dum pluit.
rain v.
pluere (for the most part only in the third person, personally and impersonally, pluit, “it rains,” etc., PROP. and figuratively); imber or nimbus effunditur: it rains such a thing, such a thing comes down in rain (stones, blood, etc.), res, re, or rem pluit; e.g., sanguine, lacte, lapidibus, etc., pluit, terra pluit, terram pluit, also, imber lapidum, sanguinis, etc., defluit; and de caelo lapidat; imbri lapidat: it rained all night, imber continens per totam noctem tenuit: it never rained more heavily in those parts, numquam illis locis majores aquae fuerunt (Caes.). PROV., it never rains but it pours, malum malo additur (after Liv., 1, 3): it is constantly raining, or rains without any cessation, continuos or assiduos (less strong) habemus imbres.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for rain?
- The usual Latin words for “rain” are pluvia, imber, nimbus; also nūbilō, pluō, lac. 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.