Translating

How to spell translating

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce translating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does translating mean?

1. verbExpressing the sense of words or text in another language.
2. verbConverting something into a different form, or interpreting its meaning in practical terms.

Translating in a sentence

• She earns a living by translating legal documents from German into English.

• The manager is good at translating vague client requests into clear tasks.

• The app keeps translating each menu item as the tourist points at it.

• The design team is busy translating the rough sketch into a working prototype.

Where does translating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin translatus, the past participle of transferre, meaning 'to carry across' or 'to transfer'. That verb joined trans, meaning 'across', with ferre, meaning 'to bear or carry', so the literal image is of meaning being physically carried over from one language into another. English took it up in the late 1300s, with early use in the writing of figures such as Wycliffe, who was carrying scripture across from Latin into English. The odd-looking 'lat' element appears because Latin used a completely different root for the past participle of ferre, which is why we get 'translate' rather than something built on 'fer'. The same 'lat' carrying-element survives in relatives such as 'relate' and 'oblation', and the trans- prefix keeps its 'across' sense in everyday words like 'transport' and 'transmit'.

How the word is built

• trans- (across)
• lat (carried, from the past participle of Latin ferre 'to carry')
• -ing (present participle suffix)