English → Latin
“trunk” in Latin
stirpsrootstock; the lowest part of the trunk of a plant, including the roots.; a plant, shrub, shoot, sprout; lineage, race, truncustree trunk; a piece cut off; blockhead, dunce, doltcaudextree trunk, stump; bollard; post; book, writing; notebook, account bookrōstrumbill or beak of a bird; snout or muzzle of an animal; prow of a shipāreaa piece of level ground, a vacant place (esp. in the town); ground for a house, a building-spot; a vacant space around ocistaa trunk, a chest, a casketcapsaA box, case, holder, repository; especially a cylindrical container for books; bookcase.armāriuma cupboard, closet, chest, especially one in the sacristy of a church where vestments are kept; a safe for food, clothinscrīniumcase or chest for books or papers; portfolio, briefcase; desk (for writing)pyxisa small box; for holding medicines or toiletries
The English word trunk itself goes back to Latin truncus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
trunk
The body of a tree, stirps (the stock, as the animating and supporting principal part of a tree; opposed to the branches and leaves, as growing from it and dependent upon it; it sometimes includes the whole stem with the roots): truncus (the naked, dry part of the tree; opposed to the branches and leaves, and even to the top itself, as its ornament; in short, so far as it answers to the trunkof the human body, as distinguished from stirps; truncus means the lower part of the stem; stirps, the higher). ☞ In good prose stipes (in poetry synonymous with truncus or stirps) is only “pole;” caudex, a “block” or “log;” i. e., piece of wood, cut up or not, too short to be recognized as a stem or trunk (Döderlein).
Of the human body, truncus (corporis).
Proboscis, rostrum: of an elephant, proboscis, -idis (Plin.); manus (Cic.).
Chest, area: cista: capsa: armarium, scrinium. pyxis. Little trunk, arcula: capsula: cistula: cistellula. SYN. in BOX.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for trunk?
- The usual Latin words for “trunk” are stirps, truncus, caudex; also rōstrum, ārea, cista. 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.