source language
Americannoun
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the language in which a text appears that is to be translated into another language.
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a language, usually the learner's native language, that is a source of interference in learning another language.
Etymology
Origin of source language
First recorded in 1955–60
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It detects the source language and translates it into English for the officer.
From Barron's • May 12, 2026
This uniformity strongly suggests this word was found in the languages' early Germanic parent – that is, the source language from which all these Germanic languages descended.
From Salon • Jun. 18, 2022
This means that the word "father" likely came from a long-dead source language, estimated to date back some 6,000 years.
From Salon • Jun. 18, 2022
And so Lewis followed some stringent, self-imposed rules in composing this long poem, altering nothing about her source language except its punctuation.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 19, 2015
However, the task of translating a poem is much more than that of taking the words of the source language and replacing them with equivalent words from the target language.
From Bearslayer A free translation from the unrhymed Latvian into English heroic verse by Cropley, Arthur
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
