The new meaning of the word transliterate combines the adjective literate (‘able to read and write’) with the prefix trans- (‘across’). So if you are transliterate, you are able to read/write across a variety of media. I say ‘new meaning’ because the word transliterate already exists in the English language, though with a different pronunciation and word class. Transliterate the verb dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. In this homograph, the prefix trans- means ‘changing’ (compare translate, transform), and literate derives from Latin littera, meaning ‘letter of the alphabet’. This sense of transliterate also has a related noun transliteration.

The new meaning of the word transliterate combines the adjective literate (‘able to read and write’) with the prefix trans- (‘across’). So if you are transliterate, you are able to read/write across a variety of media. I say ‘new meaning’ because the word transliterate already exists in the English language, though with a different pronunciation and word class. Transliterate the verb dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. In this homograph, the prefix trans- means ‘changing’ (compare translate, transform), and literate derives from Latin littera, meaning ‘letter of the alphabet’. This sense of transliterate also has a related noun transliteration.