Latin terms
Ancient language expressions
Latin terms are words and phrases borrowed from Latin that persist in English, especially in law, medicine, academia, and formal writing.
Some remain untranslated because no English equivalent captures the precise meaning: habeas corpus, in vitro, per se, et cetera.
Others signal scholarly convention or legal precision: ibid. , sic, pro bono.
Many have been fully absorbed into everyday English: via, versus, status quo.
Using Latin terms can convey exactness or authority, though overuse risks sounding pretentious.
- ad hocFor this purpose specifically
- carpe diemGrasp the present moment
- e.g.Introduces an illustration
- i.e.Clarifying abbreviation
- habeas corpusWrit challenging lawful custody
pro bono · pro rata · et al. · ad nauseam · ipso facto · persona non grata · in vivo · credo · quid pro quo · terra firma · etc. · mea culpa · status quo · per se · species · non sequitur · caveat emptor · genus
- LatinCicero, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Livy
- legal vocabularylaw dictionary, legal jargon, legalese, legal language, definitions
- loanwordsloanword, loan words, borrowings, borrowed words, loan word
- alchemyalchemy, alchemist, philosopher's stone, transmutation, elixir
- legal historylegal history, medieval law, Roman law, Roman jurisprudence, common law
- Roman LawRoman law, Corpus Juris Civilis, Justinian Code, Twelve Tables, Digest
Latin termsplain English
Unadorned, accessible wording
everyday language · common parlance · informal vocabulary · slang · street language
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