transcribe

verb tran·scribe \ tran(t)-ˈskrīb \

|Updated on: 13 Jul 2018

Examples: transcribe in a Sentence

transcribed; transcribing

transitive verb

1 a : to make a written copy of

b : to make a copy of (dictated or recorded matter) in longhand or on a machine (such as a typewriter)

c : to paraphrase or summarize in writing

d : write down, record

2 a : to represent (speech sounds) by means of phonetic symbols

b : translate 1a

c : to transfer (data) from one recording form to another

d : to record (as on magnetic tape) for later broadcast

3 : to make a musical transcription of

4 : to cause (DNA or RNA) to undergo genetic transcription

—

transcriber

noun

See transcribe defined for English-language learners

See transcribe defined for kids

Examples of transcribe in a Sentence

He transcribed all of his great-grandfather's letters.
The senator's speech was transcribed.
a Mozart string quartet transcribed for piano
a system that allows linguists to transcribe the sounds of any language

Recent Examples of transcribe from the Web

Another component of the internship involved going through Hoccleve's poems, transcribing the Middle English language into modern English, and linking resources to explain historical context.

— Courant Community, "Community News For The Putnam-Killingly Edition," 10 July 2018
The experimental progressive house artist was recently given the chance to prove his prowess to the world, transcribing some of his most beloved tunes into full orchestral arrangements.

— kat bein, Billboard, "deadmau5's Orchestral Album 'Where's the Drop?' Now on Spotify: Listen," 29 June 2018
And this is how -- this is the normal way that these transcribe interviews are done.

— Fox News, "What Trump is looking for in his next Supreme Court justice," 28 June 2018
Google has aced transcribing human speech for its AI to parse, and creating a human-sounding robot voice to respond.

— aaron pressman, Fortune, "Data Sheet—Google's Duplex AI Proves Its Powers and Limitations," 28 June 2018
The conglomerate is, at the behest of the government, developing software that will decipher accents and automatically transcribe what’s said for air traffic controllers.

— anurag kotoky, Bloomberg.com, "Honeywell to Make Flying Safer by Decoding 100 Accents in India," 5 June 2018
In order for a cell to build a new version of itself, DNA is first transcribed, or copied, into RNA.

— keridwen cornelius, Scientific American, "A Shot against Cancer Slated for Testing in Massive Dog Study," 7 June 2018
Even fewer pages have been transcribed into computer text and made searchable.

— sam kean, The Atlantic, "Artificial Intelligence Is Unlocking the Vatican's Secret Archives," 30 Apr. 2018
But the process is cumbersome, relying on a scattered series of records, many of which might be transcribed only on paper.

— jeff john roberts, Fortune, "IBM Blockchain Is Tracking Diamond Rings Across the Globe," 26 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'transcribe.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of transcribe

Latin transcribere, from trans- + scribere to write — more at scribe

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1552

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

TRANSCRIBE Defined for English Language Learners

transcribe

verb

: to make a written copy of (something)
: to write down (something that is spoken)
: to rewrite (a piece of music) so that it can be performed by a different instrument or voice

TRANSCRIBE Defined for Kids

transcribe

verb tran·scribe \ tran-ˈskrīb \

transcribed; transcribing

: to make a copy of

Word Root of transcribe

The Latin word scribere, meaning “to write,” and its form scriptus give us the roots scrib and script. Words from the Latin scribere have something to do with writing. To scribble is to write quickly or carelessly. To describe is to write or tell about something or someone. A manuscript is a document written by hand. To transcribe is to write down something spoken or copy something written.