Untranslate

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To convert a text that was translated back into the language it was first written in
2. Reversing an earlier rendering so that the material returns to its source language
3. Turning a previously rendered passage back into its original tongue or form

Etymology: Untranslate is built from the reversing prefix "un-", as in "undo" or "unwrap", attached to "translate". To untranslate is to turn a translated text back toward its original, or to reverse the act of translating. "Translate" comes from Latin "translatus", the past participle of "transferre", meaning "to carry across". It joins "trans-", "across", with "latus", from the verb "ferre", "to carry". The English verb keeps that literal sense of carrying something from one place or language to another, so the reversal is simply carrying it back again.

Antonyms: translate