Transcriber

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Someone who listens to spoken words or audio recordings and writes them down in text form
2. An individual who converts conversations, speeches, or other verbal content into a written or typed record
3. A person engaged in listening to audio or speech and producing an accurate textual representation

Etymology: Transcriber is a plain formation: the verb "transcribe" with the agent suffix "-er" added to name the person who does the action. "Transcribe" comes from Latin "transcribere," meaning to copy something from one place or document to another, built from "trans-" (across) and "scribere" (to write). The suffix has a longer road. The "-er" ending descends from Latin "-arius," which denoted a person connected with a task or occupation, and it passed through Old French "-ier" into Middle English before settling into the form used in English today. Old English had its own "-ere" for the same purpose, so English speakers were already used to naming doers this way long before the verb arrived in its current form. The result is a name that simply describes the job: someone who takes spoken words and writes them out again. Its meaning has stayed close to the literal one, which is why the word reads so transparently.

Synonyms: copyist, recorder, writer