dolor

See also: dolôr

English

Noun

dolor (countable and uncountable, plural dolors)

1. (American spelling) Alternative spelling of dolour.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 38, page 455:

     Who dyes the vtmoſt dolor doth abye,
     But who that liues, is lefte to waile his loſſe:
     So life is loſſe, and death felicity.

   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], page 293, column 2:

     But for all this thou ſhalt haue as many Dolors for thy Daughters, as thou canſt tell in a yeare.

   • 1986, Rosemarie Tong, Ethics in Policy Analysis (Occupational Ethics Series), Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, →ISBN, page 16:

     Supposedly, utilitarians are able to add and subtract hedons (units of pleasure) and dolors (units of pain) without any signs of cognitive or affective distress […]

Derived terms

• dolorifuge

Anagrams

• drool, loord

Asturian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin dolor (“pain”).

Noun

dolor m (plural dolores)

1. pain

Related terms

• doler

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin dolor (“pain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [duˈlo]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [doˈlo]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [doˈloɾ]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o(ɾ)

Noun

dolor m or (archaic, regional or poetic) f (plural dolors)

1. pain of a continuing nature, especially that of rheumatism
2. sorrow or grief of a continuing nature

Derived terms

• adolorar
• adolorir
• dolor reumàtic
• dolorada
• Dolors

Related terms

• doler, doldre (verb)
• dolorós (adjective)

References

• “dolor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Chavacano

Etymology

Inherited from Spanish dolor (“pain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /doˈloɾ/, [d̪oˈloɾ]
• Hyphenation: do‧lor

Noun

dolor

1. pain; ache

Ladino

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish dolor, from Latin dolor.

Noun

dolor f (Hebrew spelling דולור)

1. pain

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *delh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *-ōs

Proto-Indo-European *delh₁ōs

Proto-Italic *dolōs

Latin dolor

Inherited from Proto-Italic *dolōs, from Proto-Indo-European *delh₁ōs, from *delh₁- (“to hew, to split”) + *-ōs.

By surface analysis, doleō +‎ -or.

Compare typologically Russian ломо́та (lomóta, “ache”) (from ломи́ть (lomítʹ, “to break”)).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈdɔ.ɫɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈdɔː.lor]

Noun

dolor m (genitive dolōris); third declension

1. pain, ache, hurt
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneid 4.419–420:

     Hunc ego sī potuī tantum spērāre dolōrem,
     et perferre, soror, poterō.

     If I was able to anticipate this much pain, so too shall I be able, my sister, to endure it.

2. anguish, grief, sorrow
3. indignation, resentment, anger, fury, vengeance

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	dolor	dolōrēs
genitive	dolōris	dolōrum
dative	dolōrī	dolōribus
accusative	dolōrem	dolōrēs
ablative	dolōre	dolōribus
vocative	dolor	dolōrēs

Derived terms

• dolorōsus
• prō dolor

Related terms

• dolēns
• dolenter
• doleō

Descendants

• Asturian: dolor
• Catalan: dol, dolor
• Calabrese: doluri
• → Proto-Brythonic: *dolʉr
  • Welsh: dolur
• → English: dol
• Esperanto: doloro
• Old French: dolor m, dolur, dulor, dulur
  • → English: dolour
  • French: douleur f
• Friulian: dolôr
• Ido: doloro
• Istriot: dulur
• Italian: dolore m
• Neapolitan: dolore
• Old Occitan: dolor m or f
  • Occitan: dolor
• Old Galician-Portuguese: door f
  • Galician: dor f
  • Portuguese: dor f (see there for further descendants)
• Romanian: (obsolete) duroare f; → dolor (learned)
• Romansh: dolur, dalur, dolour, dulur
• Sardinian: dolore, dabori, daori, dulori
• Sicilian: duluri, ruluri, diluri
• Spanish: dolor m
• Venetan: dolor, dołor

Further reading

• “dolor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “dolor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “dolor”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • time will assuage his grief: dies dolorem mitigabit
    
  • to soothe grief: consolari dolorem alicuius
    
  • to feel pain: dolore affici
    
  • to be vexed about a thing: dolorem capere (percipere) ex aliqua re
    
  • to feel acute pain: doloribus premi, angi, ardere, cruciari, distineri et divelli
    
  • to cause a person pain: dolorem alicui facere, afferre, commovere
    
  • to cause any one very acute pain: acerbum dolorem alicui inurere
    
  • the pain is very severe: acer morsus doloris est (Tusc. 2. 22. 53)
    
  • to find relief in tears: dolorem in lacrimas effundere
    
  • to give way to grief: dolori indulgere
    
  • grief has struck deep into his soul: dolor infixus animo haeret (Phil. 2. 26)
    
  • to be wasted with grief; to die of grief: dolore confici, tabescere
    
  • the pain grows less: dolores remittunt, relaxant
    
  • to struggle against grief: dolori resistere
    
  • to render insensible to pain: callum obducere dolori (Tusc. 2. 15. 36)
    
  • I have become callous to all pain: animus meus ad dolorem obduruit (Fam. 2. 16. 1)
    
  • to banish grief: dolorem abicere, deponere, depellere
    
  • to free a person from his pain: dolorem alicui eripere (Att. 9. 6. 4)
    
  • to my sorrow: cum magno meo dolore
    
• dolor in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Occitan

Alternative forms

• doulour (Mistralian)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Occitan dolor, from Latin dolor (“pain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [duˈlu]

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Noun

dolor m or f (plural dolors)

1. pain

Related terms

• dòlre / dòler

Old French

Alternative forms

• dolur, dulor, dulur

Etymology

Inherited from Latin dolor (“pain”).

Noun

dolor oblique singular, m (oblique plural dolors, nominative singular dolors, nominative plural dolor)

1. pain; suffering

Related terms

• dolent
• dolerous
• doloir

Descendants

• → English: dolour
• French: douleur f

Old Occitan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin dolor (“pain”).

Noun

dolor m or f

1. pain

Related terms

• doloros (adjective)

Descendants

• Occitan: dolor

Romanian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin dolor.

Doublet of duroare.

Noun

dolor n (uncountable) (rare)

1. (medicine) pain, ache

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	dolor	dolorul
genitive-dative	dolor	dolorului
vocative	dolorule

References

• dolor in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish dolor, from Latin dolor (“pain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /doˈloɾ/ [d̪oˈloɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: do‧lor

Noun

dolor m (plural dolores)

1. pain, ache, aching soreness, tenderness (physical)

   dolores de crecimiento ― growing pains

   dolor de espalda ― backache

2. grief
3. sorrow, hurt, pain, suffering (emotional, mental)
4. sore (in certain expressions)

   dolor de garganta ― sore throat

5. heartache

Hyponyms

• dolor agudo (“acute pain, sharp pain”)
• dolor de cabeza
• dolor de espalda
• dolor de estómago
• dolor de garganta
• dolor de muelas (“toothache”)
• dolor de oído (“earache”)
• dolor de pecho, dolor en el pecho (“chest pain”)
• dolor en el culo (“pain in the ass”)
• dolor muscular (“muscle pain, muscle soreness”)
• dolores de crecimiento
• dolores de tiempo

Derived terms

• a dolor
• indoloro
• más malo que un dolor

Related terms

• adolecer
• adolorido
• doler
• dolido
• doliente
• dolorido
• doloroso

Further reading

• “dolor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025