English → Latin
“suffer” in Latin
ferōto bear; to carry; to support, hold up; to suffer, tolerate, endure, bearpatiorto suffer, endure, tolerate; to allow, acquiesce, permit, submit; to exist, liveperpetiorto endure (bear steadfastly), put up with, stand; to dare, venture, resist with courage and firmnesstolerōto bear, endure, tolerate, put up with, support; to sustain (with the notion of barely doing so)perferōto bear, carry or convey through to a place or to the end; bring home; to convey news, announce, state; to bear, supportsustineōto hold up or upright, uphold, support, sustain; to keep up, bear up, tolerate; to hold or keep back or in, stay, check,sinōto let; to permit; to allow; to put; to lay; to set downpermittōto let go, let loose; to cast, hurl, throw; send away, export; to give leave, give up, allow, suffer, grant, permit, sur
The English word suffer itself goes back to Latin ferō, through sufferō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
suffer
Transitively, To endure, bear, ferre: pati: perpeti: tolerare: perferre: sustinere. (The words are found in this connection and order.) ferre et perpeti. pati ac ferre: pati et perferre: perpeti ac perferre [SYN. in ENDURE]. To be able to suffer hunger and cold, inediae et algoris patientem esse: the heat is so great that one’s hand cannot suffer it, tam vehemens calor ut manus apposita patiens ejus non sit: not to be able to suffer any one, ab aliquo animo esse alieno or adverso (to be averse); odium habere or gerere in aliquem (to hate); alicui esse infensum atque inimicum (to entertain hostile feeling): not to be able to suffer anything, alienum esse, abhorrere ab aliqua re (to be disinclined or averse); aliquid mihi odio or in odio est (to detest).
To undergo (an evil), accipere aliquid (to be affected by anything); affici ab aliqua re (to be affected or afflicted with anything). To suffer a defeat, cladem accipere: to suffer shipwreck, naufragium facere (not pati): to suffer loss, damage, damnum, detrimentum, jacturam facere (not damnum or jacturam pati); detrimentum capere, accipere: ☞ naufragium pati (only in Sen., Herc., oet., 118), damnum pati (only in Sen., De Ir., 1, 2, 3, in an amended passage, and Ulp., Dig., 8, 2, 19), and jacturam pati (only Col., 1, praef., 11) are wrong, because in classical Latin pati is always = aequo animo ferre, to bear with patience; e.g., damnum pati (Liv., 22, 41; Lucan. 8, 749).
To permit, pati (to allow): sinere (not to hinder; Vid: LET): ferre (to bear): pati aliquid fieri (to suffer anything to be done): permittere (to allow, not to forbid; opposed to vetare: ☞ tolerare in this sense would be wrong). I will not suffer it at all, non feram; non patiar; non sinam (Cic., Cat., 1, 5, 10): should I suffer this? egone hoc feram? the matter suffers no delay, res dilationem non patitur.
Intransitively, To be sensible of an evil or pain, mala ferre, perpeti: affectum esse aliqua re (to be affected by): premi aliqua re (to be oppressed with). To suffer (from pain), dolores ferre, pati: to suffer (from want), inopia premi, laborare: to suffer (from injustice), injuriam pati, ferre: (at the hands of anybody), aliquis mihi injuriam facit, infert: the patient suffers much (pain), aegrotus magnos dolores patitur, or magnis doloribus cruciatur: to suffer from anything = to be sick of, aegrotum esse re or ex re; laborare ex re: to suffer very much in the eyes, gravi oculorum morbo affectum esse: to have suffered much (of ships), gravius adflictas esse (Caes.): the regiment suffered severely in the engagement, legio vehementer proelio erat attenuata: his honor suffers, ejus existimatio in ea re agitur: the country suffered much in this war, hoc bellum reipublicae erat calamitosissimum: his health has suffered much, *ejus valetudo valde afflicta est: the ships suffered much from the storm, tempestas naves afflictavit: to suffer (punishment), poenam dare; supplicium pati: to suffer for a fault, etc., luere (to atone for); poenas alicujus rei dare, luere, or persolvere (to give satisfaction for): to make anybody suffer for a fault, poenas alicujus rei ab aliquo expetere (opposed to impunitum alicui aliquid omittere [Sall., Jug., 31, 13], ignoscere alicui aliquid, veniam dare alicui alicujus rei; to pardon): I will make you suffer for this, hoc non impunitum feceris; hoc tibi non sic abibit.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for suffer?
- The usual Latin words for “suffer” are ferō, patior, perpetior; also tolerō, perferō, sustineō. 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.