Meanings
verbtransliterate (third-person singular simple present transliterates, present participle transliterating, simple past and past participle transliterated)
present singular third person transliterates · participle present transliterating · participle past transliterated · past transliterated
- transitiveTo represent letters or words in the characters of another writing system.
Everyone in Moscow uses the English term “face control,” though the phrase is often transliterated in print as “feis kontrol.”
2009 September 25, Joshua Yaffa, “Barbarians at the Gate”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 03 Feb 20121 more example
In German, the ß character is called eszett. It’s used in “Straße,” the word for street, and in the expletive “Scheiße.” It’s often transliterated as “ss,” and strangely enough, it’s never had an official uppercase counterpart.
2017 July 20, Thu-Huong Ha, “Germany has ended a century-long debate over a missing letter in its alphabet”, in Quartz, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2019
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latintransliterātum
- Englishtransliterate
From Latin transliterātum, past participle of transliterō, from trans (“across”) + literō , from littera (“letter”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian транслитери́рам
- транслитери́рам (transliteríram)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Catalan transliterar
- transliterarto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Chinese Mandarin （進行）轉寫 /（进行）转写, （進行）音譯 /（进行）音译
- （進行）轉寫 /（进行）转写to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- （進行）音譯 /（进行）音译to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Czech transliterovat
- transliterovatto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Dutch omschrijven, translitereren
- omschrijvento represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- translitererento represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Estonian translitereerima
- translitereerimato represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Finnish translitteroida
- translitteroidato represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
French translittérer
- translittérerto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
German transliterieren, umschreiben
- transliterierento represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- umschreibento represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Hungarian átbetűz, transzliterál
- átbetűzto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- transzliterálto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- betűnként/betű szerint átírto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Irish traslitrigh
- traslitrighto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Italian traslitterare
- traslitterareto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Japanese 字訳する, 書き写す
- 字訳する (jiyaku suru)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- 書き写す (kakiutsusu)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Korean 자역하다, 음역하다
- 자역하다 (jayeokhada)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- 음역하다 (eumyeokhada)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Latvian transliterēt
- transliterētto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Lithuanian transliteruoti
- transliteruotito represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Persian حرفنویسی کردن, نویسهگردانی کردن
- حرفنویسی کردن (harf-nevisi kardan)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- نویسهگردانی کردن (nevise-gardâni kardan)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Polish transliterować
- transliterowaćto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Portuguese transliterar
- transliterarto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Russian транслитери́ровать
- транслитери́ровать (transliterírovatʹ)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Slovak transliterovať
- transliterovaťto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Spanish transliterar
- transliterarto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Swedish translitterera, transkribera
- translittererato represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- transkriberato represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Tamil ஒலிபெயர், ஒலிபெயர்ப்பு செய்
- ஒலிபெயர் (olipeyar)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- ஒலிபெயர்ப்பு செய் (olipeyarppu cey)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Thai ทับศัพท์, ถอดอักษร
- ทับศัพท์ (táp-sàp)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- ถอดอักษร (tɔ̀ɔt-àk-sɔ̌ɔn)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Ukrainian транслітерува́ти
- транслітерува́ти (transliteruváty)to represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Vietnamese chuyển tự, dịch âm
- chuyển tựto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- dịch âmto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
- chuyển dịchto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Welsh trawslythrennu
- trawslythrennuto represent letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script
Cite this entry
APA
transliterate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transliterate
MLA
“transliterate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transliterate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “transliterate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transliterate.
Source: transliterate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.