overwordExplorer
LATIN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

munus.

service; duty, office, function; gift; tribute, offering; bribes (pl.);

5 characters2 syllables approx.Latina language

Meaning & usage

noun[ˈmuː.nʊs]Classical-Latin[ˈmuː.nus]
  1. a service, office, employment

    declension-3
  2. a burden, duty, obligation

    declension-3
  3. a service, favor

    declension-3
  4. a spectacle, public show

    declension-3
  5. a public building made at the expense of an individual

    declension-3 · in-plural
  6. a reward or payment

    declension-3
  7. a gift

    declension-3
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *mey- Proto-Indo-European *moy-nósder. Proto-Italic *moinos Latin mūnus From Proto-Italic *moinos. Like mūnia (“duties”), it is derived from Proto-Indo-European *moy-nós, from *mey- (“change, swap”). As is the case with such derivatives as "municipality", and "immunity", the concept of trading goods and services in a way that conforms to a society's laws is quite pertinent to this term. From the addition of the "com-" prefix came commūnis (“common, public”), which is cognate to Proto-Germanic *gamainiz (“shared, communal, public”). The semantic shift to 'gift' is explained by Sextus Pompeius Festus thus: *

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

munus has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

munus studiomunus workshello, munus

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.