interitus

Interitus is a Latin noun meaning destruction, ruin, downfall, annihilation, or extinction. It is a 4th-declension masculine noun, with the typical form of interitus in the nominative and interitūs in the genitive. The word is derived from the verb interīre, which means to perish or to go to death.

In classical Latin, interitus largely denotes physical destruction or utter ruin of a person, city, state, or community. It can also express the end of life or the extinction of a species, and it is sometimes employed in rhetorical or elegiac contexts to convey the ruin of fortunes, institutions, or civic life. The term appears in historical, epic, and moralizing passages to emphasize catastrophic outcomes.

In Christian Latin and later medieval usage, interitus can be used to signify broader ruin or doom, including spiritual ruin, though it remains primarily a term for physical or temporal destruction in many texts. In modern scholarship, interitus is encountered in discussions of Latin vocabulary for death and catastrophe, as well as in glossaries and translations of ancient authors.

In English-language contexts, interitus is relatively uncommon outside academic discussion. It may be cited when analyzing Latin texts or used stylistically in fantasy or science fiction writing as a term for cataclysmic events or as a proper name, reflecting its strong associations with destruction and downfall.

See also: ruina, exitium, mors, the broader vocabulary of death and destruction in Latin literature.