transcribe

American  

[tran-skrahyb] / trænˈskraɪb /

verb (used with object)

transcribed, transcribing

1. to make a written copy, especially a typewritten copy, of (dictated material, notes taken during a lecture, or other spoken material).

2. to make an exact copy of (a document, text, etc.).

3. to write out in another language or alphabet; translate or transliterate.

   to transcribe Chinese into English characters.

4. Phonetics. to represent (speech sounds) in written phonetic or phonemic symbols.

5. Radio. to make a recording of (a program, announcement, etc.) for broadcasting.

6. Music. to arrange (a composition) for a medium other than that for which it was originally written.

7. Genetics. to effect genetic transcription of (a DNA molecule template).

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transcribe British  

/ trænˈskraɪb /

verb

1. to write, type, or print out fully from speech, notes, etc

2. to make a phonetic transcription of

3. to transliterate or translate

4. to make an electrical recording of (a programme or speech) for a later broadcast

5. music to rewrite (a piece of music) for an instrument or medium other than that originally intended; arrange

6. computing

   1. to transfer (information) from one storage device, such as punched cards, to another, such as magnetic tape

   2. to transfer (information) from a computer to an external storage device

7. (usually passive) biochem to convert the genetic information in (a strand of DNA) into a strand of RNA, esp messenger RNA See also genetic code translate

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Other Word Forms

• mistranscribe verb (used with object)
• nontranscribing adjective
• pretranscribe verb (used with object)
• retranscribe verb (used with object)
• transcribable adjective
• transcriber noun
• untranscribed adjective

Etymology

Origin of transcribe

First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin trānscrībere “to copy off,” literally, “to write across,” from trāns- trans- + scrībere “to write” ( scribe ¹ )

Example Sentences

It then transcribes the answers and allows recipients to determine whether or not they want to take the call.

From The Wall Street Journal

Google is rolling out an AI model to its smart speakers and the Gemini app that understands spoken audio without first transcribing it into text.

From The Wall Street Journal

Her family said she started singing before she could talk and within a few years, she composed a song about a corncob doll that her proud mother transcribed and tucked into a shoebox for safekeeping.

From Salon

It is set at a biographical turning point: 1147, when Hildegard’s transcribed visions were submitted to the pope, who would declare her either a prophet or a heretic.

From The Wall Street Journal

But after transcribing the poems and looking more closely at them, they were not all they seemed.

From BBC

Related Words

• decipher
• duplicate
• interpret
• reprint
• reproduce
• rewrite
• translate
• write out