Latin

¹

[ lat-n ]

noun

1. an Italic language spoken in ancient Rome and used as the official language of the Roman Empire. : L
2. one of the forms of literary Latin, as Medieval Latin, Late Latin, Biblical Latin, or Liturgical Latin, or of nonclassical Latin, as Vulgar Latin.
3. a native or inhabitant of Latium; an ancient Roman.
4. Rare. a member of any of the Latin peoples, or those speaking chiefly Romance languages, especially a native of or émigré from Latin America.
5. Rare. a member of the Latin Church; a Roman Catholic, as distinguished from a member of the Greek Church.

adjective

1. denoting or pertaining to those peoples, as the Italians, French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc., using languages derived from Latin, especially the peoples of Central and South America: Latin dance is one of his hobbies. Latino ( def 1 ).

   Her landlord is Latin.

   Latin dance is one of his hobbies.

2. of or relating to the Latin Church.
3. of or relating to Latium, its inhabitants, or their language.
4. of or relating to the Latin alphabet.

Latin@

²

or la·ti·n@

[ luh-tee-noh-luh-tee-nuh, la‐ ]

adjective

1. of or relating to people of Latin American origin or descent, especially those living in the United States (used in place of the masculine form Latino or the feminine form Latina ):

   The school promoted Latin American awareness during Latin@ Heritage Month.

noun

, plural La·ti·n@s.

1. a person of Latin American origin or descent, especially one living in the United States (used in place of the masculine form Latino or the feminine form Latina ):

   Latin@s in high-tech fields.

Latin

/ ˈlætɪn /

noun

1. See Romance, Old Latin, New Latin, Medieval Latin, Low Latin, Late Latin
   the language of ancient Rome and the Roman Empire and of the educated in medieval Europe, which achieved its classical form during the 1st century bc. Having originally been the language of Latium, belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European family, it later formed the basis of the Romance group See Late Latin Low Latin Medieval Latin New Latin Old Latin See also Romance
2. a member of any of those peoples whose languages are derived from Latin
3. an inhabitant of ancient Latium

adjective

1. of or relating to the Latin language, the ancient Latins, or Latium
2. characteristic of or relating to those peoples in Europe and Latin America whose languages are derived from Latin
3. of or relating to the Roman Catholic Church
4. denoting or relating to the Roman alphabet

Latin

1. The language of ancient Rome . When Rome became an empire, the language spread throughout southern and western Europe .

Pronunciation Note

The unusually constructed word Latin@ is more commonly used in writing than in speech, probably because the final character poses a pronunciation challenge. Most speakers don't assign “@” a sound at all, often pronouncing Latin@ by running the two intended forms together, as “Latino-Latina.” Others have postulated that the final vowel might rhyme with “cow,” as [l, uh, -, tee, -nou], splitting the @ into “a” and “o.” However, research has shown this to be quite rare.

Notes

The modern Romance languages — French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and a few others — are all derived from Latin.

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance , Latin was the universal language of learning. Even in modern English, many scholarly, technical, and legal terms, such as per se and , retain their Latin form.

Other Words From

• an·ti-Lat·in adjective
• non-Lat·in adjective noun
• pre-Lat·in adjective noun
• pro-Lat·in adjective
• qua·si-Lat·in adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Latin¹

First recorded before 950; Middle English, Old English from Latin Latīnus; Latium, -ine ¹

Origin of Latin²

First recorded in 1995–2000; from the superficial resemblance of @ as a combination of a and o; Latinx ( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of Latin¹

Old English latin and læden Latin, language, from Latin Latīnus of Latium

Example Sentences

It dates to 1740s Britain and of course was written originally in Latin (“Adeste Fideles”).

From The Daily Beast

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Most Latin Americans celebrated the rapprochement between the United States and Cuba.

From The Daily Beast

Similar stories plague many parts of Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Asia.

From The Daily Beast

In fact, beer prices in Panama are about 36 percent lower than anywhere else in Latin America.

From The Daily Beast

Panamanians are by far the biggest beer consumers in Latin America, but not when it comes to the good stuff.

From The Daily Beast

He could go and live over in the Latin Quarter—that 's the desire of his heart—and think of nothing but old bottles.

From Project Gutenberg

So far we have not made great progress in securing Europe's Latin-American trade.

From Project Gutenberg

Every monumental inscription should be in Latin; for that being a dead language, it will always live.

From Project Gutenberg

Several uneducated business men are said to have written to the Dean asking the Latin for what they think of the new Budget.

From Project Gutenberg

The descriptions of allegorical personages in this poem are clearly imitated from similar descriptions in Latin poets.

From Project Gutenberg