English → Latin
“sense” in Latin
sentiōto feel, to sense, to perceive (with the senses); to perceive, be aware of, to be sensible of, to notice mentally, to unmēnsmind; intellect, reason; reasoning, judgementanimuslife, life force, soul, vitality (that life-giving aspect which animates a thing); conscience, intellect, mind, reason, voluntāswill, free will, choice; desire, inclination; disposition towards (something or someone)sententiaa way of thinking, view, opinion, judgement or sentence; a purpose, intention, will (one's thinking in respect to the fugustōto taste, sample; to snack; to whet one's appetitevolōto wish, to please; to want; to mean, to intendratiōreason, reasoning, explanation, ground, motive, rationality, rationale, purpose; calculation, account, accounting, reckopactuman agreement, bargain, pact; a means, manner, method, considerationoculuseye; sight, vision; luminary of the sun and stars
The English word sense itself goes back to Latin sentiō, through sēnsus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
sense
The faculty of perception, sensus, -ūs (e.g., oculorum; videndi, cernendi; aurium, audiendi). To make any impression on the senses, sensus movere: to soothe the senses, sensibus suaviter blandiri (Cic.): to be deprived of sense, sensu carere; sensibus captum esse: beyond the reach of the senses, quod in sensus non cadit; quod nullo sensu percipi potest: pleasures of sense, voluptates corporis (Cic., Fin., 1, 18); corporales voluptates (Sen., Ep., 78; ☞ not corporeae, which would be “corporeal, consisting of a body,” ex corpore constantes, Frotscher ad Muret., 1, 143).
Understanding, mind, mens: animus: plur., senses; e.g., to be in one’s senses, compotem esse animi (Terentianus), mentis (Cic.); apud se esse (Terentianus); esse sana mente; mente constare; mente bona praeditum esse (Cic.): to be out of one’s senses, mentis non compotem esse (Cic.); animi non compotem esse; non esse apud se (Terentianus): to lose one’s senses, a mente deseri; mente capi (Cic.): to be hardly in one’s senses, dubiae sanitatis esse: to have lost one’s senses, mente captum esse; de or ex mente exiisse; mente alienata esse: to recover one’s senses, ad sanitatem reverti, resipiscere: are you in your senses? sati’n’ sanus es? I am in my senses, mens mihi integra, or sana, est.
Will, animus: mens: voluntas: sensus. To take the sense of the country, populum in suffragium mittere.
Opinion, sententia.
Taste, relish, per ception, gustatus or voluntas alicujus rei (e.g., of beauty): figuratively by the verb; e.g., from a sense of their superiority, cum se superiores esse sentiant or sentirent: impressions on the senses [Vid: IMPRESSION].
Meaning, signification, sententia: vis: ratio (Cic.): sensus (Quint., Phaedrus, Sen., Gell.; ☞ but sententia is the best word; Vid: Klotz ad Cic., Tusc., 1, 36, 87). To attach a certain sense to a word, sententiam sub aliqua voce subjicere (Cic.): to ascertain the sense of every passage, cujusque loci sententiam assequi (Wyttenback): these words furnish a good sense, *verborum sententia satis bona est (☞ but not verba fundunt sensum satis bonum, which is not Latin): the word aemulatio is used in a good or bad sense, dupliciter dicitur aemulatio (Cic.): this name is found in both a good and a bad sense, nomen in laude et in vitio est (Cic.).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for sense?
- The usual Latin words for “sense” are sentiō, mēns, animus; also voluntās, sententia, gustō. 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.