Interpreter

How to spell interpreter

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce interpreter

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does interpreter mean?

1. nounA person who translates speech from one language into another in real time, or who explains the meaning of something.

Interpreter in a sentence

• The hospital booked a sign language interpreter for the appointment.

• At the conference each delegate wore a headset to hear the interpreter.

Where does interpreter come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin interpres, which named a go-between, an agent, or a negotiator standing between two parties. The first element is inter, meaning 'between', while the second part is usually linked to the idea of spreading a price or terms between people, so an interpres was literally someone working in the middle of a transaction. From interpres came the verb interpretari, 'to explain' or 'to translate', and English took the noun in by way of Old French interpreteor during the 1300s. The modern double sense, both 'one who explains a meaning' and 'one who turns speech from one language into another', was present almost from the start. The tricky spelling comes from that buried Latin root: the unstressed middle syllable sounds like 'pruh', which tempts writers to drop or muddle the 'pret' that the etymology preserves.

How the word is built

• inter- (between)
• pret- (from Latin pretium-related interpres: agent, negotiator)
• -er (agent suffix)