Deformitas

Deformitas is a Latin noun (feminine; nominative deformitas, genitive deformitatis) meaning deformity, disfigurement, or ugliness. It is derived from deformis “deformed” with the abstract noun suffix -itas, forming the idea of “the quality or state of being deformed.”

In classical and medieval Latin, deformitas could denote physical deformity, such as a misshapen body or irregular features, or a metaphorical ugliness of form, style, or character. Medical and anatomical writers used phrases like deformitas corporis to describe structural disfigurement, while moral and rhetorical writers sometimes employed deformitas animi to signify moral corruption or spiritual deformity. In later usage it remained a standard lexical item in Latin dictionaries and scholastic texts, though in modern scientific Latin, precise terms and circumlocutions are more common.

The word has descendants in Romance languages, including Spanish deformidad, French déformation, and Italian deformità, all sharing the core sense of “deformity” or “disfigurement.” As a scholarly term, deformitas is most often encountered in discussions of Latin vocabulary, etymology, and historical anatomy or philosophy.

See also deformity, ugliness, aesthetics.