What is the Latin word for sadness?

The usual Latin words for “sadness” are miseria, aegritūdō, aegrimōnia; also dolor, trīstitia, maestitia. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“sadness” in Latin

miseriamisfortune; misery (great unhappiness)aegritūdōillness, sickness; grief, sorrow aegrimōniamental or emotional distress (anxiety, sorrow, etc.)dolorpain, ache, hurt; anguish, grief, sorrow; indignation, resentment, anger, fury, vengeance trīstitiasadness, sorrow, melancholy, sloth; the (sad) state of things; moroseness, sourness maestitiasadness, sorrow, grief, dejection, melancholy angōto bind, draw, press together; to choke, throttle, strangle (replaced in Classical Latin by suffoco); to cause physical maerormourning, grief, lamentation; sorrow afflictātĭopain lūctusa mourning, grieving; grief, sorrow; lamentation

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

sadness

miseria (wretchedness): aegritudo: aegrimonia (opposed to alacritas; grief or gloom produced by a sense of present evil; the latter implying that it is an abiding sense): dolor (opposed to gaudium, a present sense of hardship, pain, or grief): tristitia: maestitia (natural, involuntary manifestation of grief): angor (passionate, tormenting apprehension of a coming evil; sollicitudo being the anxious unsettling apprehension of it): maeror (is stronger than dolor, being the feeling and its manifestation): afflictatio (= “aegritudo cum vexatione corporis,” Cic.). Not luctus, which = mourning; i. e., by conventional signs.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for sadness?: The usual Latin words for “sadness” are miseria, aegritūdō, aegrimōnia; also dolor, trīstitia, maestitia. 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.