LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
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“weep” in Latin

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

weep
Intransitively, lacrimare: lacrimas fundere (= δακρύειν, to shed tears as the physical consequence of a mental emotion, whether joyful or sorrowful. ☞ The deponent lacrimari = “to be moved to tears”): plorare (= θρηνεῖν, to express grief passionately, to wail and cry): flere (= κλαίειν, to shed tears with sobs, not with such loud expressions of grief as the plorans): ejulara (to wail): vagire (to cry as young children): lamentari (of long-continued weeping and wailing). I cannot help weeping, I cannot but weep, nequeo, quin lacrimem; lacrimas tenere non possum: with weeping eyes, oculis lacrimantibus; lacrimans: don’t weep, ne lacrima; ne plora: to be tired of weeping, lacrimando fessum esse: to make anybody weep, lacrimas or fletum alicui movere; lacrimas alicui elicere or excutere; aliquem ad fletum adducere; aliquem plorantem facere: to weep bitterly, uberius flere; lacrimarum vim profundere: to weep one’s eyes out, lacrimis confici totos efflere oculos (Quint., Decl., 6, 4): to cease weeping, lacrimas sistere; fletum reprimere (to stop one’s tears, Cic., Rep., 4, 15, 15; Ov., Fast., 6, 154): to weep for joy, lacrimare or effundere lacrimas gaudio; illacrimare gaudio (Liv.): he is weeping for joy like a child, homini cadunt lacrimae, quasi puero, gaudio (Terentianus).
Transitively. To weep for, lacrimare aliquid: flere de aliqua re (flere aliquid only poetical), deplorare aliquem or aliquid, or de aliqua re: deflere aliquid: to weep over or for, illacrimari alicui rei (Cic.; e.g., morti Socratis; errori; malis): illacrimare alicui rei (Liv.): to weep for anybody’s misfortunes, etc., lacrimare casum alicujus: to weep over one’s fate, deplorare casus suos; also, deplorare se: to weep for the living as well as the dead, complorare omnes pariter vivos mortuosque (☞ Liv., 2, 40): no man weeps at his death, mors alicujus caret lacrimis.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for weep?
The usual Latin words for “weep” are lacrimō, plōrō, fleō; also vāgiō, lāmentor, nequeō. 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.