What is the Latin word for relate?

The usual Latin words for “relate” are referō, memorō, commemorō; also prōsum, expōnō, explicō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“relate” in Latin

referōto bear, bring, drive, or carry back, off, or away; to give back, give up, return, restore, pay back, repay, render, pay memorōto remind, bring to mind; to tell, say, speak of, narrate, utter, recount, relate commemorōto recall; to remember; to mention, relate, recount prōsumto be useful or of use, do good, help, benefit, profit; to serve; to be good or beneficial expōnōto make conspicuous, to put something where everyone may see it: to expose, exhibit, display, set out; to set forth; to explicōto unfold, unfurl, uncoil, loosen, undo; to spread out, stretch out, extend, display, deploy; to disentangle, solve, set ēnārrōto explain in detail, to expound persequorto follow perseveringly, continue to follow; search through; pursue; to pursue, chase, hunt; to avenge, take vengeance u garriōto chatter, prattle; to chatter, prattle; to say something in a prattle

The English word relate itself goes back to Latin ferō, through relātus.

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

relate

To narrate, narrare alicui aliquid or de aliqua re (to describe and tell of): referre (to inform, report, whether by word of mouth or in writing; proper word of chronicles, annals, etc.): memorare, commemorare (to mention): prodere, with or without memoriae; posteris tradere; scriptum relinquere (to hand down to posterity; of historians): alicujus rei auctorem esse (to declare a thing, and more or less to pledge one’s self for its truth): exponere: explicare (to expound; opposed to summas tantum attingere): enarrare (to relate in order, and with all the circumstances): persequi (to go through anything, to relate it thoroughly): garrire (to chatter of anything; e.g., fabellas, Hor., Sat., 2, 6, 77, sq.): to relate at length, pluribus verbis exponere: to relate in due order, rem ordine enarrare: to relate diffusely, rem paullo altius repetere. To relate the progress of a thing, cuncta, ut sunt acta, exponere; enarrare alicui rem, quo pacto se habeat. A thing is related in two different ways, de aliqua re duplex memoria est (of traditions) or duplex fama est (of rumors). The event is related (traditionally) in different ways, variatur memoria actae rei: they relate (as a phrase; parenthetical), traditur, fertur. I cannot suffer this to be related, abhorret aliquid ab aurium approbatione.

To have reference to, spectare ad aliquid: referri, referendum esse, ad aliquid: this relates to me, hoc ad me attinet.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for relate?: The usual Latin words for “relate” are referō, memorō, commemorō; also prōsum, expōnō, explicō. 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.