Subtitle

How to spell subtitle

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce subtitle

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does subtitle mean?

1. nounA line of text shown on screen that translates or transcribes the spoken dialogue.
2. nounA subordinate heading printed beneath the main title of a book or article that explains its scope.
3. verbTo add on-screen translated or transcribed text to a film or video.

Subtitle in a sentence

• noun

  He turned on the subtitle option so he could follow the foreign film.

• noun

  The book's subtitle promised a practical guide for small business owners.

• verb

  The studio paid a team to subtitle the documentary in English.

• noun

  Each subtitle stayed on screen just long enough to read comfortably.

• noun

  The editor shortened the subtitle to fit neatly on the cover.

• verb

  Volunteers helped subtitle the lecture for deaf viewers.

Where does subtitle come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is a straightforward English compound built from the Latin prefix sub-, meaning 'under' or 'below', and 'title', which descends from the Latin titulus, an inscription, label, or heading placed at the start of a work. The literal sense is therefore a heading placed beneath or after the main title, and that is precisely how the word was first used in printing during the 1800s for a secondary explanatory line under a book's main title. As cinema and then television developed, the same word was extended in the early twentieth century to the lines of translated or transcribed dialogue printed across the bottom of the screen, sitting visually 'under' the action. The spelling is reassuringly transparent once you see the join: keep the whole prefix 'sub' and then add the complete word 'title', so the doubled-letter and silent-letter traps that catch people elsewhere simply do not apply here.

How the word is built

• sub- (under, below)
• title (from Latin titulus, an inscription or heading)