Transliteration is a conversion of a text from one writing system to another. It swaps letters in predictable ways (such as α → a, д → d, χ → ch, ն → n or æ → ae). The word comes from the prefix trans- (in this case, referring to switching the letters around) + the Latin word littera (meaning "letter") + the suffix -ation (which makes the word into a noun that talks about the process of doing something).