transcribe

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin trānscrībere (“to write again in another place, transcribe, copy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /trænˈskɹaɪb/
• Rhymes: -aɪb

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tran‧scribe

Verb

transcribe (third-person singular simple present transcribes, present participle transcribing, simple past and past participle transcribed)

1. To convert a representation of language, typically speech but also sign language, etc., to a written representation of it. The term now usually implies the conversion of speech to text by a human transcriptionist with the assistance of a computer for word processing and sometimes also for speech recognition, the process of a computer interpreting speech and converting it to text.
2. (dictation) To make such a conversion from live or recorded speech to text.

   The doctor made several recordings today which she will transcribe into medical reports tomorrow.

3. (computing) To transfer data from one recording medium to another.
4. (music) To adapt a composition for a voice or instrument other than the original; to notate live or recorded music.
5. (biochemistry) To cause DNA to undergo transcription.
6. (linguistics) To represent speech by phonetic symbols.

Derived terms

• transcriber

Related terms

• scribe
• transcribble
• transcription
• translate
• transliterate

Translations

to convert a representation of language into another

• Belarusian: транскрыбі́раваць impf or pf (transkrybíravacʹ)
• Catalan: transcriure (ca)
• Esperanto: transskribi
• Finnish: siirtokirjoittaa, transkriboida
• Galician: transcribir
• Italian: trascrivere (it)
• Maori: tauwhaituhi
• Portuguese: transcrever (pt)
• Russian: транскриби́ровать (ru) impf or pf (transkribírovatʹ)
• Spanish: transcribir (es), desgrabar (es) (Argentina)
• Ukrainian: транскрибува́ти impf or pf (transkrybuváty)

dictation: to make such conversion from speech to text

• Armenian: արտագրել (hy) (artagrel)
• Danish: transskribere
• Dutch: transcriberen (nl)
• Finnish: litteroida (fi), kirjoittaa puhtaaksi, transkriboida
• Japanese: 転写する (ja) (てんしゃする, tensha-suru)
• Portuguese: transcrever (pt)

computing: to transfer data from one media to another

• Finnish: siirtää (fi), transkriboida

music: to adapt a composition

• Finnish: sovittaa (fi)
• Spanish: transcribir (es)
• Swedish: transkribera (sv)

biology: to cause to undergo transcription

• Finnish: transkriboida

linguistics: to represent speech by phonetic symbols

• Armenian: տառադարձել (hy) (taṙadarjel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 音譯／音译 (zh) (yīnyì)

• Finnish: tarkekirjoittaa
• French: transcrire (fr)
• German: transkribieren (de)
• Hebrew: לתעתק (leta'aték)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can:
• Japanese: 転写する (ja) (てんしゃする, tensha suru)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can:
• Polish: przepisywać (pl), transkrybować (pl)
• Portuguese: transcrever (pt)
• Romanian: transcrie (ro)
• Russian: транскриби́ровать (ru) impf or pf (transkribírovatʹ)
• Spanish: transcribir (es)
• Swedish: transkribera (sv)
• Thai: ถอดเทป, คัด (th) (kát), ทับศัพท์ (th) (táp-sàp)

References

• “transcribe”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “transcribe”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Latin

Verb

trānscrībe

1. second-person singular present active imperative of trānscrībō

Spanish

Verb

transcribe

1. inflection of transcribir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative