fletus

Latin

Etymology

Perfect passive participle of fleō (“I weep, cry”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfɫeː.tʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈflɛː.tus]

Participle

flētus (feminine flēta, neuter flētum); first/second-declension participle

1. having been wept for
2. having been grieved for

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	flētus	flēta	flētum		flētī	flētae	flēta
genitive	flētī	flētae	flētī		flētōrum	flētārum	flētōrum
dative	flētō	flētae	flētō		flētīs
accusative	flētum	flētam	flētum		flētōs	flētās	flēta
ablative	flētō	flētā	flētō		flētīs
vocative	flēte	flēta	flētum		flētī	flētae	flēta

Derived terms

• īnflētus

Noun

flētus m (genitive flētūs); fourth declension

1. weeping, crying

   Antonym: rīsus

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1.32:

     Hac oratione ab Diviciaco habita omnes qui aderant magno fletu auxilium a Caesare petere coeperunt.

     When this speech had been delivered by Diviciacus, all who were present began with loud lamentation to entreat assistance of Caesar.

2. tears

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	flētus	flētūs
genitive	flētūs	flētuum
dative	flētuī	flētibus
accusative	flētum	flētūs
ablative	flētū	flētibus
vocative	flētus	flētūs

Descendants

• → Italian: fleto (learned)

References

• “fletus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fletus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “fletus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • with many tears: magno cum fletu
    
  • (ambiguous) to be hardly able to restrain one's tears: fletum cohibere non posse
    
  • (ambiguous) to move to tears: lacrimas or fletum alicui movere