transcribe

American  

[tran-skrahyb] / trænˈskraɪb /

verb (used with object)

• transcribes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• transcribed,
  past participle,  past
• transcribing
  present participle

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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Participles

• transcribing
  present
• transcribed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• transcribe
  simple
• transcribes
  simple
• have transcribed
  perfect
• has transcribed
  perfect
• am transcribing
  progressive
• are transcribing
  progressive
• is transcribing
  progressive
• have been transcribing
  perfect progressive
• has been transcribing
  perfect progressive

Past

• transcribed
  simple
• had transcribed
  perfect
• was transcribing
  progressive
• were transcribing
  progressive
• had been transcribing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will transcribe
  simple
• will have transcribed
  perfect
• will be transcribing
  progressive
• will have been transcribing
  perfect progressive

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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” ( see scribe ¹)

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Explanation

If someone asks you to transcribe something, they want you to listen to it and write down what was said, word for word. Speeches, interviews, and trials are often transcribed for records. From the Latin transcribere, which means “to copy, write over, or transfer,” the verb transcribe means just that: to write out a copy. You might want to transcribe a recording of an interview onto paper, or maybe you need to transcribe all the notes you collected from an important meeting. If you can remember that trans means “over” and that a scribe is a writer, you shouldn’t forget this word. Fun fact: to transcribe poorly is to transcribble.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

transcribe transcribes transcribed transcribing

And at the French capital's Notre Dame Cathedral, an AI system has been trained to transcribe 14,600 Latin pages from the church's medieval archives -- a task not dissimilar to code-breaking.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have now shown that one of biology's most important enzymes can accurately read and transcribe a much larger version containing eight genetic letters.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 5, 2026

Grace Parsonage, English Heritage's assistant curator for the South East, said: "It's been a real treat to work through this remarkable collection, alongside our volunteers, to record and transcribe these messages from the past."

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

With generative AI, machines no longer just transcribe speech, they understand what we’re saying.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026

I meant to retrieve my table-book or, failing that, to seek an opportunity to transcribe the play again.

From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood

Founded in 2018, Abridge provides so-called ambient-listening tech, which tunes in to the exchanges between doctor and patient and then transcribes the conversations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

Dr Mirsa-Sharp started using Heidi Health, a free AI-assisted medical transcription tool that listens and transcribes patient appointments, about four months ago and says it has made a big difference.

From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2025

A cell transcribes the ORF sequence into messenger RNA, which travels to cellular factories called ribosomes that assemble amino acid sequences into proteins.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 24, 2024

One component is the prime editor, which combines a SpCas9 protein, used in the first CRISPR-Cas gene editing technology, and a reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that transcribes RNA into DNA.

From Science Daily ● May 29, 2024

He transcribes the stories of other rêveurs to include in his writings.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

The research, "Reverse transcribed ssDNA derepresses translation of a retron antiviral protein," was published in Molecular Cell on October 13, 2026.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026

I discussed those questions with Gibney, and what they taught him about Musk and our penchant for enabling men like him, in a wide-ranging conversation transcribed below.

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026

Now it has become a museum called Trent Park House of Secrets, which highlights the role of the team of German speakers, most of them Jewish refugees, who transcribed titbits from the prisoners' bugged conversations.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

The full transcript of the judge's sentencing remarks, which reveal the complex sentencing exercise, were made publicly available after the BBC requested they be transcribed.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

The Reich League of German Officials gave Hitler a copy of Mein Kampf that had been transcribed by hand onto parchment in a medieval script.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

AI is also being used to build a huge, searchable collection of previously inaccessible sources on Jewish history and culture by transcribing 10 million pages of Hebrew manuscripts.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

He and his 25-person team built extensive internal tooling to see if the Chinese open-source model could handle Lindy’s tasks of managing inboxes and calendars, drafting emails, and transcribing meetings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

After years of recording and transcribing calls for my work as a journalist, I had gotten used to it.

From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2026

RNA polymerase II, also called Pol II, is the enzyme responsible for transcribing protein-coding genes in eukaryotic cells.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 1, 2025

I clenched my teeth resolutely, determined not to be caught up in the play again, and set to work transcribing all that had slipped by me before.

From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood

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Related Words

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

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