verb
translate
To express words in another language or transfer something into another form.
Where it comes from
Translate ordinarily means to express words in another language or transfer something into another form. Translate came through French from Latin translatus, carried over, the irregular past participle used with transferre, to carry across. Medieval English translation could mean physical removal as well as rendering words in another language. A saint's body or relics could be translated from one shrine to another, and a bishop could be translated to a different see. Rendering a text also carried its meaning across, from one language or context into another.
How the meaning developed
The linguistic sense survived as the everyday one.
Sources
- Translate: Etymology, Origin & Meaning
- Once Called Albion: The Composition and Transmission of History Writing in England, 1280–1350
- Transfer: Etymology, Origin & Meaning
Definitions adapted from Open English WordNet where applicable. License and attribution. Word-history text comes from Lexifour’s sourced social research; pages are assembled automatically, not individually fact-checked on every update.
Updated 2026-10-05. Report a correction.