Etymologically
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This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:41. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈtɹæn.skɹɪpt/[1]
  • US: /ˈtɹæn.skɹɪpt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English transcrit, also transcript,[2][3] borrowed from Old French transcrit (“copy of a document”),[4][5][6][7] recorded in Anglo-Norman from the 1170s,[8] from Latin trānscrīptum (“a thing copied”), the noun use of the neuter past participle of trānscrībō (“to copy, write again in another place”).[4][5][3][9] In the 15th century the English form was assimilated to the Latin one,[4][6][7] and the American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster take the word from Medieval Latin trānscrīptum (“a copy”) directly.[10][11] The Latin verb is the source of transcribe, and is formed from trāns- (“across”) and scrībō (“to write”).[9][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A written copy, chiefly of a legal document: about 1290, in the life of Becket in the South English Legendary, where it is spelled transcrit.[4][2] Collins dates the word to the 13th century,[12] Dictionary.com to 1250–1300.[3]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed close to its Latin meaning, a copy written from an original, and in law a copy of a legal record.[4][7] From 1646 it was used figuratively for any copy, imitation or rendering;[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a copy; any thing written from an original" and quoted Glanvill: "The Grecian learning was but a transcript of the Chaldean and Egyptian".[13] Later uses narrowed it to particular kinds of copy: a typed copy of dictated or recorded speech,[11][12] and, chiefly in the United States and Canada, a student's official record of courses and grades.[12] In 1961 the biologists Jacob and Monod used it for a length of RNA transcribed from a DNA template.[4] An adjective transcript, copied, is recorded from about 1450, and a verb transcript, to transcribe, from 1593 to 1633.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1290 – a written copy, chiefly of a legal document.[4][2]
  • c. 1450 – adjective, transcribed, copied.[4]
  • 1593 – verb, to transcribe (obsolete after 1633).[4]
  • 1646 – figurative, a copy, imitation or rendering.[4]
  • 1871 – a close translation or rendering.[4]
  • 1961 – in biology, RNA or DNA transcribed from a template.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A written, typed or printed copy, especially of something spoken or recorded: The court released a transcript of the hearing.
  2. (law) An official copy of a legal record.
  3. (chiefly US and Canada) An official record of a student's courses and grades.
  4. Any reproduction or copy.
  5. (biology) A length of RNA or DNA transcribed from a template.

Word family

  • transcriptase

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.