transmute

Etymology

From Latin trānsmūtāre, from trans + mūtāre.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To change, transform or convert one thing to another, or from one state or form to another.
   The alchemists tried to transmute base metals to gold.
   Did the base metals transmute to gold?
   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. 2023-04-14, Roslyn Sulcas, “Review: Grief and Mourning, Delivered With Ecstatic Vitality”, in The New York Times