English → Latin
“system” in Latin
fōrmaform; figure, shape, appearance; fine form; beauty; outline, plan, designfōrmulashape, outline; form; beauty; pattern, mould; paradigmdisciplīnateaching, instruction, education; training; learning, knowledge, discipline, science, studyratiōreason, reasoning, explanation, ground, motive, rationality, rationale, purpose; calculation, account, accounting, reckoartificiumart, craft, skill, talent, artifice, craftsmanship; profession, trade, an employmentsententiaa way of thinking, view, opinion, judgement or sentence; a purpose, intention, will (one's thinking in respect to the fuarsart, skill, craft, handicraft; trade, occupation, employment; cunning, artifice, fraud, stratagemmemoriamemory; the ability to remember; a remembrance, a thing remembered; a time of remembrance
The English word system itself goes back to Latin systēma.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
system
forma, formula, or descriptio disciplinae (outline of a scheme or doctrine): disciplina (a doctrine; e.g., of a philosophical sect): ratio (the rules or principles of a science or art): ratio et disciplina: ars (the theory of an art). (The words are found in this connection and order.) ratio et ars: artificium (an artificial system or theory; e.g., memoriae): sententia (opinion, principle; general term). The system of the Stoics, ratio, or ratio et disciplina Stoicorum: a good, complete, or well-arranged system, ratio bene instituta; ars perpetuis praeceptis ordinata; accurate non modo fundata, verum etiam exstructa disciplina; satis et copiose et eleganter constituta disciplina: a bad or imperfect system, ratio male instituta: to reduce to a system, certam quandam alicujus rei formulam componere; formam alicujus rei instituere; aliquid ad artem redigere; aliquid ad artem et praecepta revocare; aliquid ad rationem revocare: to compose a system, artificium componere de aliqua re (e.g., de jure civili): to be reduced to a system, in artis perpetuis praeceptis ordinatae modum venire (Vid: Liv., 9, 17): to have been reduced to a system, arte conclusum esse: system of government, descriptio civitatis a majoribus nostris constituta (Cic.).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for system?
- The usual Latin words for “system” are fōrma, fōrmula, disciplīna; also ratiō, artificium, sententia. 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.