Interpret

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɪnˈtɜː.pɹɪt/

Definitions

1. To explain the meaning of something or to understand it in a particular way
2. To translate or convert information from one language or form into another as a means of conveying intended sense
3. To perform or present a creative work by imparting personal understanding or expression

Etymology: The Latin word "interpres" originally named a go-between: an agent, broker or negotiator who stood between two parties, often in trade or diplomacy, and who had to make one side's words intelligible to the other. The idea of explaining or expounding came later, as the job of mediating between languages and between people grew into the broader task of making meaning clear. Its compound structure is visible: "inter" means "between," and the second element is traced to a root that also gave Latin "pretium," meaning "price," perhaps reflecting the bargaining sense of the middleman. The English verb arrived through Old French "enterpreter," which passed the Latin sense of explaining into the vernacular, and reached Middle English as "interpreten." The English word kept the Latin spread of meanings, so that a person could interpret a dream, a law, a text or a foreign speech, all of them acts of carrying sense across a gap.

Synonyms: explain, clarify, translate, decipher, elucidate

Antonyms: misinterpret, confuse