tormento

From Old Galician-Portuguese tormento (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), probably borrowed from Latin tormentum as a semi-learned term. Compare Spanish tormento.

• IPA^(key): /toɾˈmento/ [t̪oɾˈmẽn̪.t̪ʊ]
• Rhymes: -ento
• Hyphenation: tor‧men‧to

tormento m (plural tormentos)

1. torment
2. torture
   • 1455, X. Ferro Couselo, editor, A vida e a fala dos devanceiros. Escolma de documentos en galego dos séculos XIII ao XVI, Vigo: Galaxia, page 316:

     Ano sobre dito de LV, a XXVI días de jullyo, o dito Pero Ardido declarou, en lle dando tormento, que tomara et roubara a un judio de Bayona, ena Portella de Santo Antón os ditos dose botóos et outros tantos que leua Esteuo Pallazín, seu parçeiro, et que lle tomara mays o roçín et que lle tomara mays as ditas cinquo bulsas et tres esqueiros et a dita çinta de prata et mays os diñeiros et os coroados vellos et huas botas et todo o al que lle acharon en seu poder, o baladrán et sayas, et hun correo con os ditos diñeiros, et que o leixaran atado en hun monte et que o dito Esteuo Pallazín que o quisera matar se él non fora, et que o dito Esteuo Pallasín que leuara outro tanto.

     Year, the aforementioned 1455, 26 days of July. Pedro Ardido declared, when they were giving torment to him, the he took and robbed a Jew from Baiona, at the pass of St. Anton, twelve buttons and many others which took Estevo Pallacín, his partner; and also he took his horse, and also five bags, and three tinderboxes and a silver ribbon and coins and old crowns and some boots, and all that they found in him, the garment and robes, and a money bag with the aforementioned coins; and that they left him tied in a hill, and that the aforementioned Estevo Pallacín wanted to kill the Jew, if it was not for him; and that the aforementioned Estevo Pallacín took as much.

• atormentar

• torcer
• tormenta
• tortura

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “tormento”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “tormento”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “tormento”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “tormento”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

tormento (plural tormenti)

1. torment, torture, plague

• IPA^(key): /torˈmen.to/
• Rhymes: -ento
• Hyphenation: tor‧mén‧to

From Latin tormentum.

tormento m (plural tormenti)

1. torment
2. agony

• tormentare
• torcere
• tortura

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

tormento

1. first-person singular present indicative of tormentare

tormentum +‎ -ō

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [tɔrˈmɛn.toː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [torˈmɛn.to]

tormentō (present infinitive tormentāre, perfect active tormentāvī, supine tormentātum); first conjugation (Late Latin, Medieval Latin)

1. to hurl (a projectile), to fling
2. to torment, to torture, to excruciate

¹At least one rare poetic syncopated perfect form is attested.

• (all senses) torqueō

tormentō

1. dative/ablative singular of tormentum

• "tormentare", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “tormentare”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[2], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC

• Rhymes: -ẽtu
• Hyphenation: tor‧men‧to

Semi-learned borrowing from Latin tormentō.

tormento m (plural tormentos)

1. torment (extreme physical or psychological pain)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

tormento

1. first-person singular present indicative of tormentar

• “tormento”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “tormento”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from Latin tormentum as a semi-learned term.^[1] If inherited, the expected form would be *tormiento. Cf. however tormientar, an archaic variant of atormentar.

• IPA^(key): /toɾˈmento/ [t̪oɾˈmẽn̪.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -ento
• Syllabification: tor‧men‧to

tormento m (plural tormentos)

1. torment, torture

• “tormento”, 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