English → Latin
“stem” in Latin
truncustree trunk; a piece cut off; blockhead, dunce, doltprōraprowstirpsrootstock; the lowest part of the trunk of a plant, including the roots.; a plant, shrub, shoot, sprout; lineage, race, obstōto stand before, stand in the way of, obstruct, block, oppose; to thwart, hinderobsistōto place oneself before; to oppose or resist; to make a standresistōto stand back, remain standing somewhere; stand still, halt, stop, stay; remain, continue; to rise or stand up again; toflūctusa wave, billowaliquissomeone, somebody, anyone, something, anything; sometimes to be followed by the word else; some, any
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
stem s.
A trunk, truncus (☞ not caudex or stirps): arboris corpus (Plin.).
Prow of a ship, prora.
stem v.
obstare: obsistere: resistere. (The words are found in this connection and order.) repugnare obsistereque. Anything may be stemmed, alicui rei repugnari obsistique potest: to try to stem the torrent (figuratively), objicere aliquid fluctibus; dirigere brachia contra torrentem (proverbially, † Juv.): to stem the torrent of public calamities, fluctus (aliquos) a communi peste depellere (Cic.). Vid. RESIST, OPPOSE.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for stem?
- The usual Latin words for “stem” are truncus, prōra, stirps; also obstō, obsistō, resistō. 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.