Standard Lemma guide

transliteration

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌtɹænzlɪtəˈɹeɪʃən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪʃən

1

noun

Meaning 1

The act or product of transliterating, of representing letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences, translation-studies

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The act or product of rendering speech in sign language, or vice versa.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Qualifier: sign language

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a transcription from one alphabet to another

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: transcription, written text

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *terh2-der. Proto-Indo-European *térh2t Proto-Indo-European *-ónts Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h2ónts Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h2n̥ts Proto-Italic *trāns Proto-Italic *trāns- Latin trans-bor. English trans- English literation English transliteration From trans- + literation.

Across languages

Translations

103 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: transliterasie — product of transliterating
  • Albanian: transliterim — product of transliterating
  • Arabic: نَقْحَرَة (naqḥara) — product of transliterating
  • Arabic: كَرْشَنَة (karšana) — product of transliterating
  • Arabic: رَوْمَنَة (rawmana) — product of transliterating
  • Armenian: գրադարձություն (gradarjutʻyun) — product of transliterating
  • Armenian: տառադարձություն (taṙadarjutʻyun) — product of transliterating
  • Azerbaijani: transliterasiya — product of transliterating
  • Belarusian: транслітара́цыя (translitarácyja) — product of transliterating
  • Belarusian: трансьлітара́цыя (transʹlitarácyja) — product of transliterating
  • Bengali: প্রতিবর্ণীকরণ (protibornikron) — product of transliterating
  • Bulgarian: транслитера́ция (transliterácija) — product of transliterating
  • Burmese: စာလုံးပြောင်း (calum:praung:) — product of transliterating
  • Burmese: ထိုက်စာလုံး (htuikcalum:) — product of transliterating
  • Catalan: transliteració — product of transliterating
  • Chinese Cantonese: 譯音 /译音 (jik6 jam1) — product of transliterating
  • Chinese Cantonese: 譯名 /译名 (jik6 ming4) — product of transliterating
  • Chinese Mandarin: 轉寫 /转写 (zhuǎnxiě) — product of transliterating
  • Chinese Mandarin: 音譯 /音译 (yīnyì) — product of transliterating
  • Chinese Mandarin: 譯名 /译名 (yìmíng) — product of transliterating
  • Czech: transliterace — product of transliterating
  • Danish: translitteration — product of transliterating
  • Dutch: transliteratie — product of transliterating
  • Esperanto: transliterigo — product of transliterating
  • Estonian: transliteratsioon — product of transliterating
  • Finnish: translitterointi — product of transliterating
  • Finnish: siirtokirjoitus — product of transliterating
  • French: transcription — product of transliterating
  • French: translittération — product of transliterating
  • Friulian: trasliterazion — product of transliterating
  • Galician: transliteración — product of transliterating
  • Georgian: ტრანსლიტერაცია (ṭransliṭeracia) — product of transliterating
  • German: Transkription — product of transliterating
  • German: Transliteration — product of transliterating
  • German: Umschrift — product of transliterating
  • German: Umschreibung — product of transliterating
  • Greek: μεταγραμματισμός (metagrammatismós) — product of transliterating
  • Hebrew: תַּעְתִּיק (ta'tík) — product of transliterating
  • Hindi: लिप्यन्तरण (lipyantaraṇ) — product of transliterating
  • Hungarian: átbetűzés — product of transliterating
  • Hungarian: transzliteráció — product of transliterating
  • Hungarian: betű szerinti / betűnkénti átírás — product of transliterating
  • Icelandic: umritun — product of transliterating
  • Indonesian: alih aksara — product of transliterating
  • Indonesian: transliterasi — product of transliterating
  • Irish: traslitriú — product of transliterating
  • Italian: traslitterazione — product of transliterating
  • Japanese: 翻字 (honji) — product of transliterating
  • Kazakh: транслитерация (transliterasiä) — product of transliterating
  • Khmer: អក្សរសព្ទ (ʼaksɑɑ sap) — product of transliterating
  • Korean: 전자 (jeonja) — product of transliterating
  • Korean: 음역 (eumyeok) — product of transliterating
  • Kyrgyz: транслитерация (transliteratsiya) — product of transliterating
  • Lao: ການຖອດອັກສອນ (kān thǭt ʼak sǭn) — product of transliterating
  • Latin: transcriptio — product of transliterating
  • Latin: translitteratio — product of transliterating
  • Latvian: transliterācija — product of transliterating
  • Lithuanian: transliteracija — product of transliterating
  • Macedonian: транслитерација (transliteracija) — product of transliterating
  • Malay: transliterasi — product of transliterating
  • Malay: penyalinan huruf — product of transliterating
  • Malayalam: ലിപിമാറ്റം (lipimāṟṟaṁ) — product of transliterating
  • Malayalam: ലിപ്യന്തരണം (lipyantaraṇaṁ) — product of transliterating
  • Māori: kupu whakawhiti — product of transliterating
  • Norwegian Bokmål: translitterasjon — product of transliterating
  • Iranian Persian: نِویسِهگَرْدانی (nevise-gardâni) — product of transliterating
  • Iranian Persian: حَرْفنِویسی (harf-nevisi) — product of transliterating
  • Iranian Persian: تِرانْسْلیتِراسْیون (terânsliterâsyon) — product of transliterating
  • Polish: transliteracja — product of transliterating
  • Portuguese: transcrição — product of transliterating
  • Portuguese: transliteração — product of transliterating
  • Romanian: transcripție — product of transliterating
  • Romanian: transliterație — product of transliterating
  • Russian: транслитера́ция (transliterácija) — product of transliterating
  • Russian: транслитери́рование (transliterírovanije) — product of transliterating
  • Russian: трансли́т (translít) — product of transliterating
  • Serbo-Croatian: транслитера́ција — product of transliterating
  • Serbo-Croatian: пријеслов — product of transliterating
  • Serbo-Croatian: transliterácija — product of transliterating
  • Serbo-Croatian: prijeslov — product of transliterating
  • Slovak: transliterácia — product of transliterating
  • Slovene: prečrkovanje — product of transliterating
  • Slovene: transliteracija — product of transliterating
  • Spanish: transcripción — product of transliterating
  • Spanish: transliteración — product of transliterating
  • Swedish: translitteration — product of transliterating
  • Swedish: translitterering — product of transliterating
  • Swedish: transkribering — product of transliterating
  • Tagalog: transliterasyon — product of transliterating
  • Tajik: транслитератсия (transliteratsiya) — product of transliterating
  • Tajik: нависагардонӣ (navisagardoni) — product of transliterating
  • Tamil: ஒலிபெயர்ப்பு (olipeyarppu) — product of transliterating
  • Telugu: ప్రతిలేఖనం (pratilēkhanaṁ) — product of transliterating
  • Thai: คําทับศัพท์ (kam-táp-sàp) — product of transliterating
  • Thai: การถอดอักษร (gaan-tɔ̀ɔt-àk-sɔ̌ɔn) — product of transliterating
  • Turkish: transliterasyon — product of transliterating
  • Turkmen: transliterasiýa — product of transliterating
  • Ukrainian: транслітера́ція (transliterácija) — product of transliterating
  • Urdu: نَقَل حَرْفی (naqal harfī) — product of transliterating
  • Urdu: نَقْلِ حَرْفی (naql-i harfī) — product of transliterating
  • Uzbek: transliteratsiya — product of transliterating
  • Vietnamese: sự chuyển chữ — product of transliterating
  • Vietnamese: sự chuyển tự — product of transliterating
Real reading context

transliteration in complete knowledge articles