Imprimat

Imprimat is a Latin verb form derived from imprimō, meaning to print, imprint, or press. In Latin texts, imprimat most commonly appears as the third-person singular present indicative, translated as “he prints” or “he imprints.” The form can also appear in clauses where it means “that he prints” or “that he may print,” depending on the grammatical mood and context. The root verb imprimō belongs to the Latin third conjugation and appears across a range of classical, medieval, and scholastic writings.

In usage, imprimat is not a standalone concept but a grammatical form used to express action related to printing or imprinting. Because Latin forms shift with tense, mood, voice, and person, the exact sense of imprimat depends on the sentence in which it occurs. In many texts, the verb simply denotes the act of printing or pressing.

The term is sometimes encountered in historical or bibliographic sources where Latin phrasing is preserved. It is easy to confuse imprimat with the related publishing term imprimatur, which is the formal license to print granted by ecclesiastical or other authorities. Imprimatur literally means “let it be printed,” and it signals official approval rather than the action of printing itself. While imprimat is a genuine Latin verb form, imprimatur is a fixed phrase used as a separate permission indicator in publishing.

See also: imprimatur, Latin verb imprimō, Latin morphology.