What is the Latin word for trifle?

The usual Latin words for “trifle” are paulum, paululus, mūnus; also parvus, levis, minūtia. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“trifle” in Latin

pauluma little, somewhat paululusvery little or small mūnusa service, office, employment; a burden, duty, obligation; a service, favor parvussmall; little; puny; cheap; petty; trifling; ignorable; unimportant levislight, not heavy; easy to digest; quick, swift, fleet, nimble, rapid minūtiasmallness, minuteness; small thing, trifle nūgorto jest, trifle, play the fool, talk nonsense; to trick, cajole, cheat ālūcinorto wander in mind, talk idly, prate, dream ineptiōto be silly, play the fool, trifle; to talk or act strangely or absurdly lūdōto play (a game or sport); to frolic, behave playfully; to practice, amuse oneself with

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

trifle s.

res parva: res minuta: paullum: paullulum [SYN. in LITTLE]: opus minutum (a work of art in miniature): munus leve: munusculum (a little present): res parvi momenti (anything of small importance): It may also frequently be expressed by the adjectives, parvus, levis, perlevis. Trifles, minutiae; res parvae or minutae; nugae (insignificant trifles): apinae (bagatelles, nonsense; Martialis, 1, 114, 2, sq., of his epigrams): this is a trifle, hoc leve est; id parvum est: it is no trifle, est aliquid: non leve est: these are trifles, haec parva sunt; haec nugae sunt (inconsiderable things not worth caring for; e.g., these are trifles, but it was by not despising these trifles that, etc., parva sunt haec, sed parva ista non contemnendo, etc.; Liv., 6, 41); sunt apinae tricaeque et si quid vilius istis (scarcely worthy of regard; Martialis, 14, 1, 7; of things): is that (circumstance) a trifle? num parva causa est? that is no trifle in my sight, non parvi illud aestimo: to reduce a very difficult thing to a mere trifle, rem facilem ex difficillima redigere (Caes., B.G., 2, 27): he accomplished the matter, which certainly was no trifle, id quod erat difficillimum, effecit: to give one’s self up to trifles; to trouble one’s self about trifles, minutiarum esse studiosum (☞ but not reduviam curare, which has the meaning only from the context; Cic., Rosc. Am., 44, 128): anything is a mere trifle to me, aliquid mihi jocus or ludus est: to injure a person not even in the merest trifle, ne minima quidem re laedere aliquem: to buy for a trifle (at a low price), parvo emere, aere pauco emere: to be knocked down at a trifle, nummo addici (at an auction).

trifle v.

nugari: alucinari (Cic.); ineptire (Terentianus); ludere (Hor., Ep.).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for trifle?: The usual Latin words for “trifle” are paulum, paululus, mūnus; also parvus, levis, minūtia. 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.