Skip to content

into

ˈɪntuː

Why translating and crashing share a word

The picture Something outside steps over a threshold and settles inside. The moment of crossing is the part you can see. IN is already inside; INTO crosses the edge from outside and goes in.

Particles

Where the picture shows up in into

  1. over the threshold

    Please come into the office.

    pliːz kʌm ˈɪntuː ðiː ˈɔːfɪs

    Step across the doorway and come inside the office.

    A body crosses the doorsill and moves right into the room.

  2. driven in by impact

    The truck ran into a wall.

    ðə trʌk ræn ˈɪntuː ə wɔːl

    The truck hit a wall and buried its nose in it.

    The nose of the moving truck is buried inside the wall.

  3. through a mould, reshaped

    Can you translate this into Korean?

    kæn juː trænsˈleɪt ðɪs ˈɪntuː kəˈriːən

    Can you take this and let it come back out in Korean?

    An English sentence goes into a mould labelled 'Korean' and comes out in a different shape.

  4. digging inside to see

    The police are looking into the case.

    ðə pəˈliːs ɑːr ˈlʊkɪŋ ˈɪntuː ðə keɪs

    The police are digging down inside the case to see what is there.

    A torch beam pushes deep inside the lump called 'the case' and lights it up from within.

  5. split apart into slots

    Cut the cake into eight pieces.

    kʌt ðə keɪk ˈɪntuː eɪt ˈpiːsɪz

    Cut the cake so that eight separate pieces come out of it.

    A whole cake breaks apart and falls into eight separate slots.

All of it in one picture

INTO is an arrow crossing an edge inward. Cross a threshold and you get entering; drive through a wall and you get a crash. Go into another mould and come out reshaped, dig into a case and you get an investigation, split apart into several slots and you get dividing. Wherever INTO appears, there is an edge standing in front, waiting to be crossed.

Next

See all English core images