English → Latin
“smile” in Latin
subrīdeōto smilerenīdeōto shine back or again; to be bright or resplendent, glitter, glisten; to be glad, bright or cheerful; to laugh, smile (affulgeōto shine on someone or something; to appear, dawn or shine forth favorably upon
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
smile s.
risus lenis (Mart.): With a smile, subridens: to force a smile from anybody, excutere alicui risum.
smile v.
subridere: renidere (when a smile is considered as lighting up the features). To smile upon, (leniter) arridere alicui (PROP. and figuratively); blandiri alicui; affulgere alicui (figuratively): fortune smiles upon him, fortuna ei arridet or affulget; fortuna blanditur coeptis suis.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for smile?
- The usual Latin words for “smile” are subrīdeō, renīdeō, affulgeō. 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.