Most useful Latin phrases to know
So much of the English language comes directly or circuitously through Latin. And although it’s no longer actively spoken, per se, lingua Latina non mortua est! π

Rumours of Latin’s death have been greatly exaggerated. On the contrary — I consider many of these Latin phrases to be “mini mental models,” or solid mental model companions, at the very least. Knowing them is good brain food, because they’re liable to come in handy in a number of places.
They’re also helpful for anyone learning or wanting to learn a Romance language — because this family of languages is heavily based on Latin. You’ll recognize many of the word stems in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and so on as deriving from their Latin roots — and it’ll give you a clue as to the meaning even of unfamiliar words as you’re getting up to speed in your new tongue.
Phrase | Meaning |
---|---|
acta non verba | Actions, not words. |
ad hoc | Spontaneous; unplanned. Literally: "for this purpose" |
ad hominem | Rhetorical strategy that ignores the substance of the argument itself and simply attacks the person who holds opposing views personally. |
age quod agis | "Do what you are doing" |
alea iacta est | The Die is Cast |
alma mater | Identifies the institution of higher learning one has attended. |
a priori | Before the fact |
carpe diem | Sieze the day! |
caveat emptor | Buyer beware |
cogito, ergo sum | I think, therefore I am |
Cui bono? | "Good for whom," or "who benefits?" Similar to "follow the money" |
cum laude | With honors |
deus ex machina | God out of the machine; a plot device in fiction to magically solve an unsolvable problem. |
Dulcet et decorum est pro patria Mori | Sweet and beautiful it is to die for one's country |
et al | et alia = "and others" |
et cetera | And other similar things |
ex nihilo nihil fit | Nothing comes from nothing |
ex post facto | retroactively |
fama volat | The rumour has wings |
festina lente | "Hurry slowly" -- a paradoxical phrase imploring one to proceed quickly, but cautiously. |
habeas corpus | "I have the body" -- in legal terms, protection against unlawful imprisonment and indefinite detention |
Inter arma enim silent leges | In times of war, the law is silent |
in vino veritas | In wine there is truth |
magna cum laude | With high honors |
mea culpa | Admission of a mistake or fault; "my bad." |
modus operandi | A particular way of doing something, typically long-established. |
modus vivendi | An arrangement allowing conflicting parties to coexist peacefully; more broadly, a way of life |
nota bene | Note well |
per se | The thing in itself; a concept on its own for its own sake, as opposed to in connection with other things. |
persona non grata | Someone who is unacceptable and unwelcome |
post hoc | After the fact |
post hoc, ergo propter hoc | A logical fallacy of the form "Y happened after X, therefore event Y must have been caused by X" |
quid pro quo | Something for something else |
semper fidelis | Always faithful |
sic semper tyrannis | "Thus always to tyrants!" said John Wilkes Booth as he shot Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head in 1865, 5 days after the end of the Civil War |
status quo | The existing state of affairs |
sui generis | In a class all by oneself; a unique element of its kind (Mozart, for example). |
summa cum laude | With highest honors |
ultra vires | Outside the law |
veni, vidi, vidi | I came, I saw, I conquered |
veritas odium parit | Truth brings hatred |
Comments are closed.