Romanised

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Expressed in the Latin alphabet rather than the original script, especially with regard to words or names originally written in non-Latin writing systems ; converted from another script into Roman letters for ease of reading or pronunciation by those familiar with the Latin alphabet ; represented using Roman characters to facilitate understanding across language barriers
2. Written using the letters of the Roman alphabet instead of native characters ; transliterated from other scripts into Latin letters to enable wider comprehension or standardized spelling ; rendered in Roman characters to allow an approximate phonetic reading by readers unfamiliar with the original script
3. Transposed into the Latin alphabet from another writing system ; adapted into Roman letters for communication or educational purposes ; transformed into Roman script so speakers of different languages can approximate pronunciation or identify terms more easily

Etymology: "Romanised" is the past tense and past participle of "romanise", so its history is that of the verb. The verb is formed from "Roman" with the suffix "-ise", meaning to make or render something in a particular manner. Its core sense is to make something Roman, whether in culture, law, or language. In its most common modern use, the word describes writing a non-Latin script in the Latin alphabet, as in romanised Japanese or romanised Arabic. Here the Roman letters carry the sound of the original, which is why the process is also called transliteration.

Synonyms: latinised, transliterated