traduce

English

WOTD – 4 June 2010

Etymology

From Latin trādūcō (carry over; lead as a spectacle, dishonor), from trāns + dūcō (I lead).[1] Compare cognate transduce, from Latin trānsdūcō.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /tɹəˈdjuːs/, /tɹəˈdʒuːs/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /tɹəˈdus/, /tɹəˈdjus/
  • (Canada) IPA(key): /tɹəˈdus/
  • Rhymes: -uːs

Verb

traduce (third-person singular simple present traduces, present participle traducing, simple past and past participle traduced)

  1. (transitive) To malign a person or entity by making malicious and false or defamatory statements. [from 1580s[1]]
    Synonyms: defame, libel, slander; see also Thesaurus:defame
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: [] (Second Quarto), London: [] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] [], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:
      This heauy headed reueale eaſt and weſt / Makes vs traduſt, and taxed of other nations, / They clip vs drunkards, and with Swiniſh phraſe / Soyle our addition []
    • 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, I.i:
      Well I'll not debate how far Scandal may be allowable—but in a man I am sure it is always contemtable.—We have Pride, envy, Rivalship, and a Thousand motives to depreciate each other—but the male-slanderer must have the cowardice of a woman before He can traduce one.
    • 1771–1790, Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography [Part 2]”, in John Bigelow, editor, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. [], Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., published 1868, →OCLC, page 203:
      I am earnestly desirous then, my dear Sir, that you should let the world into the traits of your genuine character, as civil broils may otherwise tend to disguise or traduce it.
    • 1881, The Gospel in All Lands, page 176:
      “The chief men of the Jews became his enemies and traduced him to the principal persons in the town, hoping to make him ashamed or afraid.”
    • 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 201:
      Clayton interrupted him. “Stop!” he cried. “Stop! What manner of cur are you that you traduce the character of a good woman whom we believe dead! God! I was a fool ever to let you live—you are not fit to live even in this vile land.”
    • 1935, W. & E. Muir, transl., The Trial, translation of Der Prozess by Franz Kafka:
      Someone must have traduced Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.
    • 2023 November 15, Christian Wolmar, “Ministers should carry the can for ticket office fiasco”, in RAIL, number 996, page 47:
      Now, I hold no candle for the train operators, and I think that in the main they have been far too craven about any government proposals. But in this instance, they have been badly traduced, led up the hill, and then chucked back down it.
  2. (archaic, transitive) To pass on (to one's children, future generations etc.); to transmit. [mid-16th c. to mid-18th c.[1]]
    Synonyms: hand down, bequeath, leave
    • 1650, Thomas Browne, chapter X, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: [], 2nd edition, London: [] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, [], →OCLC:
      However therefore this complexion was first acquired, it is evidently maintained by generation, and by the tincture of the skin as a spermatical part traduced from father unto son [] .
  3. (archaic, transitive) To pass into another form of expression; to rephrase, to translate. [1530s to mid-19th c.[1]]
    • 1865 Mar, “The Last of the Tercentenary”, in Temple Bar, volume XIII:
      From Davenant down to Dumas, from the Englishman who improved Macbaeth to the Frenchman who traduced into the French of Paris four acts of Hamlet, and added a new fifth act of his own, Shakespeare has been disturbed in a way he little thought of when he menacingly provided for the repose of his bones.

Usage notes

Not to be confused with transduce.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “traduce”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

Corsican

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin traducere, from Proto-Italic *tranzdoukō. Cognates include Italian tradurre and French traduire.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /traˈdut͡ʃe/
  • Hyphenation: tra‧du‧ce

Verb

traduce

  1. (transitive) to translate

Conjugation

References

Galician

Verb

traduce

  1. inflection of traducir:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /traˈdu.t͡ʃe/
  • Rhymes: -utʃe
  • Hyphenation: tra‧dù‧ce

Verb

traduce

  1. third-person singular present indicative of tradurre

Anagrams

Latin

Verb

trādūce

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of trādūcō

Noun

trāduce

  1. ablative singular of trādux

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin trādūcō, French traduire.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /traˈdu.tʃe/

Verb

a traduce (third-person singular present traduce, past participle tradus, third-person subjunctive traducă) 3rd conjugation

  1. to translate

Conjugation

Derived terms

Spanish

Pronunciation

Verb

traduce

  1. inflection of traducir:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative