criminalis

Criminalis is a Latin adjective meaning “criminal” or “pertaining to crime.” It derives from the noun crimen, crime, with the adjectival suffix -alis, which is used to form descriptors of characteristic or relation. In Latin, criminalis is a regular adjective and declines like other third-declension adjectives, with masculine and feminine forms typically criminalis and a neuter form criminale.

In classical and medieval Latin, criminalis is used to describe actions, persons, or things related to crime. It functions to attribute criminal characteristics to a noun and agrees in gender and number with that noun. The term appears in legal, philosophical, and rhetorical Latin texts as part of phrases that discuss guilt, crimes, or criminal processes, though the exact constructions vary by author and period.

In taxonomy and broader scholarly naming, criminalis can appear as a species epithet, where Latin adjectives are used in binomial nomenclature to modify a genus name. In such cases, the epithet is chosen for descriptive, etymological, or commemorative reasons and does not imply any actual criminal behavior by the organism.

Modern usage outside Latin literature is limited. In English, criminalis is rarely used except in scholarly or historical discussions of Latin terms or in contexts that explicitly cite Latin phrases. Contemporary English typically uses the word criminal or related terms such as criminal law, criminal justice, or criminology.