interpret
/ɪnˈtɜːrprət/verb
explain meaning or understand significance
From Latin inter (between).
Lineage
inter
-pres
The story
Picture a Roman broker standing between two parties who cannot—or will not—speak directly: that go-between was an interpres. Latin inter meant “between,” while the shorter element -pres has a disputed history; one proposal connects it with pretium, “price,” fitting the world of bargaining, while another sees a link to Greek φράζειν, “to explain.” By the late fourteenth century, Old French interpreter had crossed into Middle English as interpreten, carrying both translation and explanation in its luggage. The word therefore does more than decode languages: it preserves the image of someone standing in the middle, turning one person’s meaning into something another person can grasp. Whenever you interpret a poem, a glance, or a sharply worded “leave me alone,” you are acting like that ancient linguistic broker—making meaning cross the gap.
Modern usage
to assign or impose one’s own meaning on something
- Heard in
- informal speech · online discussion
- See
- Urban Dictionary entries describing interpret as making one’s own meaning from something
Words from the same roots
inter · Latin, ‘between; among; as an intermediary’
Derivedintermediate, intervene, interlocutor, international
-pres · Latin, with uncertain deeper connections, ‘agent, broker, explainer; possibly connected with price or explanation’
Derivedphrase, phrasing, paraphrase, interpretation