翻译 (fān yì) means 'translation' as a noun and 'to translate' as a verb. The character 翻 (fān) literally means 'to turn over' or 'to flip', suggesting the act of turning text from one language into another. 译 (yì) means 'to interpret' or 'to render in another language', and appears in many terms related to language conversion, such as 口译 (oral interpretation) and 笔译 (written translation). Together, 翻译 emphasizes the full process of accurately conveying meaning across languages—not just word-for-word substitution, but cultural and contextual adaptation.

This word is used widely in academic, professional, and everyday contexts: students may do translation exercises, companies hire translators, and apps offer real-time translation. It can function as both subject ('This translation is clear') and object ('She did the translation'), and as a verb it commonly appears with objects ('translate this article') or in compound verbs like 翻译出来 (fān yì chūlái, 'to translate out').