transmute

See also: transmuté

English

Etymology

From Latin trānsmūtāre, from trans + mūtāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɹænzˈmjuːt/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

Verb

transmute (third-person singular simple present transmutes, present participle transmuting, simple past and past participle transmuted)

1. (ambitransitive) To change or convert one thing to another, or from one state or form to another.

   Synonyms: transform, transmogrify; alchemise; see also Thesaurus:convert, Thesaurus:transmogrify

   Hypernyms: alter, change

   The alchemists tried to transmute base metals to gold.

   Did the base metals transmute to gold?

   • 1653, John Bulwer, “Scene XXIIII. Cruell and Fantasticall Inventions of Men Practised upon Their Bodies in a Supposed Way of Bravery, and Wicked Practices both of Men and Devils to Alter and Deforme the Humane Fabricke”, in Anthropometamorphosis: Man Transform’d; or, The Artificial Changling […], 2nd edition, London: […] William Hunt, →OCLC, page 521:

     But others declare that no Creature can be made or tranſmuted into a better or vvorſe, or transformed into another ſpecies or ſimilitude, by man, or devill. […] Martinus [i.e., Martin] Delrio the Jeſuit accounts this degeneration of Man into a Beaſt to be an illuſion, deceptive and repugnant to Nature; for, the ſoule of man cannot informe a beaſts body, […]

   • 2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America‎^[1], volume 182, number 21, archived from the original on 25 January 2025:

     Mary is sister to the marginalized women who live unchronicled lives in oppressive situations. It does her no honor to rip her out of her conflictual, dangerous historical circumstances and transmute her into an icon of a peaceful, middle-class life robed in royal blue.

   • 2023 April 14, Roslyn Sulcas, “Review: Grief and Mourning, Delivered With Ecstatic Vitality”, in The New York Times‎^[2], archived from the original on 5 May 2023:

     There is silence, then the sound of weeping, which escalates to heart-rending, gasping sobs. A man, the source of the lamentation, appears and as he walks across the stage, his cries transmute into song, and the slow snare drum rat-a-tat-tat of Ravel’s composition begins.

   • 2025 March 18, Samuel Moyn, “Can Democrats Learn to Dream Big Again?”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 March 2025:

     Etzler was a follower of the wonkish French utopian Charles Fourier, who promised that the scientific reinvention of nature would transmute the saltwater into lemonade.

Related terms

• transmutability
• transmutable
• transmutant
• transmutate
• transmutation

Translations

to convert one thing into another

• Bulgarian: превръщам (bg) (prevrǎštam)
• Catalan: transmutar (ca)
• Dutch: omvormen (nl)
• Finnish: muuttaa (fi) (transitive), muuttua (fi) (intransitive)
• French: transmuer (fr)
• German: verwandeln (de), umwandeln (de)
• Japanese: 変移 (ja)
• Māori: whakaahuakē
• Romanian: transmuta (ro)
• Spanish: transmutar (es), trasladar (es); transmutarse (es), trasladarse (es)

Anagrams

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French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: transmutent, transmutes

Verb

transmute

1. inflection of transmuter:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Portuguese

Verb

transmute

1. inflection of transmutar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

transmute

1. inflection of transmutar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative