transcribe

verb

tran·​scribe tran(t)-ˈskrīb 

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 sense 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

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 on the Web

The interviews were recorded on audio tapes and were then transcribed and put together with photos and other supporting documents. —Ellie Rudy, NBC News, 10 Nov. 2023

Participants were presented with images of logbook pages and guided through transcribing ship identifiers, positional information, and any weather observations contained within. —Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Nov. 2023

Computers got faster, and neural nets, drawing on data available on the Internet, started transcribing speech, playing games, translating languages, even driving cars. —Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023

The long acronym — standing for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart — started out as a distorted series of letters and numbers that users had to transcribe to prove their humanity. —Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 18 Aug. 2023

Astrocytes in one — and only one — of the clusters transcribed proteins known to be involved in neurotransmitter storage, release and transport using vesicles, as occurs in neurons. —Laura Dattaro, Quanta Magazine, 18 Oct. 2023

This aspirational order is rooted in the idealistic aftermath of the Second World War, when it was transcribed into a series of documents: the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Genocide Convention, and the Geneva Conventions on the laws of war, among others. —Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 9 Oct. 2023

At its core, this bot is made of three separate pieces: speech-transcription software to join and automatically transcribe a Zoom call, a ChatGPT prompt to generate responses to questions posed in the lectures, and a speech synthesizer to mimic Aguilar’s voice. —IEEE Spectrum, 28 Sep. 2023

For her, the book became a diary to transcribe her emotions while being in the midst of the Justice for Breonna Taylor movement. —Taylor Crumpton, Essence, 26 July 2023

See More

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

1552, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

transcribe

verb

tran·​scribe tran(t)s-ˈkrīb 

transcribed; transcribing

1

a

: to make a written copy of

b

: to make a copy of (dictated or recorded matter) by hand or on a machine (as a typewriter)

2

: to represent speech sounds with phonetic symbols

transcriber noun

Medical Definition

transcribe

transitive verb

tran·​scribe tran(t)s-ˈkrīb 

transcribed; transcribing

: to cause (as DNA) to undergo genetic transcription