English → Latin
“spruce” in Latin
bellusbeautiful, pretty, handsome; pleasant, agreeable, charmingnitidusshining, polished, glittering; handsome, beautiful, good-looking; healthy-looking, well conditionedlepiduspleasant, charming; witty; effeminate
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
spruce
bellus (pretty; mostly, but not always with praise): nitidus (carefully and strikingly neat, etc.: e.g., quos vides pexo capillo nitidos, Cic., Cat., 2, 10, [Orelli puts a comma after capillo]): lepidus (used in a bad sense in Cic., Cat., 2, 10: ni pueri, tam lepidi, tam delicati, alluding to their fine and effeminate dress, appearance, etc.): lepide ornatus (Plaut., Poen., 1, 2, 84): ☞ comtus almost always refers to neatness, etc., of style, composition, as lepidus often does. From a spruce man he becomes a rustic, ex nitido fit rusticus (Hor.). A spruce gentleman, bellus homunculus (Varr., ap. Gell., 13, 10): homo totus de capsula (as if come out of a bandbox, Sen., Ep., 115, 2).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for spruce?
- The usual Latin words for “spruce” are bellus, nitidus, lepidus. 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.