interpreter

American  

[in-tur-pri-ter] / ɪnˈtɜr prɪ tər /

noun

1. a person who interprets.

2. a person who provides an oral translation between speakers who speak different languages.

3. Computers.

   1. hardware or software that transforms one statement at a time of a program written in a high-level language into a sequence of machine actions and executes the statement immediately before going on to transform the next statement.

   2. an electromechanical device that reads the patterns of holes in punched cards and prints the same data on the cards, so that they can be read more conveniently by people.

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interpreter British  

/ ɪnˈtɜːprɪtə /

noun

1. a person who translates orally from one language into another

2. a person who interprets the work of others

3. computing

   1. a program that translates a second program to machine code one statement at a time and causes the execution of the resulting code as soon as the translation is completed

   2. a machine that interprets the holes in a punched card and prints the corresponding characters on that card

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Other Word Forms

• interpretership
  noun
• interpretress
  noun

Etymology

Origin of interpreter

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English interpretour, from Anglo-French; equivalent to interpret + -er ²

Explanation

An interpreter is someone who translates something to make it understandable, usually spoken language. When your class takes a trip to Russia, you’ll likely have an interpreter to translate Russian to English so you can understand what people are saying to you. Need to talk to someone who doesn't speak your language? You'll need an interpreter. Say you're interviewing a Bulgarian diplomat, but you don't speak Bulgarian. The interpreter would listen to a few sentences in Bulgarian and then repeat them in English, and then listen to your English response and repeat that in Bulgarian. We also use interpreter for artists who represent ideas or places in their work. If you paint industrial cityscapes, you're an interpreter of urban life.

Example Sentences

Sgt Peters gave Interpreter Popal mouth-to-mouth, but he died soon afterwards.

From BBC • Oct. 30, 2024

Interpreter services courtesy of the Lippin Group, with additional translation by Oren Kozikaro, with fandom consultation by Christina Dirkes.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 2, 2024

Outside, Leland Interpreter, the grandson of a World War II Navajo Code Talker, fills a 425-gallon tank in his truck’s flatbed.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2024

The filmmaker spoke, with the assistance of Interpreter Ellen Sowchek, with Salon about making "A Radiant Girl."

From Salon • Feb. 17, 2023

He became a “Reader, Adviser, and Interpreter of Dreams.”

From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison

Related Words

• artist
• commentator
• editor
• exponent
• linguist
• philosopher
• scholar
• writer