write
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English writen, from Old English wrītan, from Proto-West Germanic *wrītan, from Proto-Germanic *wrītaną (“to carve, write”), from Proto-Indo-European *wrey- (“to rip, tear”).
Cognate with West Frisian write (“to wear by rubbing, rip, tear”), Dutch wrijten (“to argue, quarrel”), Middle Low German wrîten (“to scratch, draw, write”) (> Low German wrieten, rieten (“to tear, split”)), German reißen (“to tear, rip”), Norwegian rita (“to rough-sketch, carve, write”), Swedish rita (“to draw, design, delineate, model”), Icelandic rita (“to cut, scratch, write”), German ritzen (“to carve, scratch”), Proto-Slavic *ryti (“to carve, engrave, dig”), Polish ryć (“to engrave, dig”), Czech rýt (“to engrave, dig”). See also rit and rat.
Pronunciation
[edit]- enPR: rīt, IPA(key): /ɹaɪt/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (UK); “to write”: (file) - Rhymes: -aɪt
- Homophones: right, rite, wright
Verb
[edit]write (third-person singular simple present writes, present participle writing, simple past wrote or (archaic) writ, past participle written or (archaic) writ or (obsolete) ywriten)
- (transitive, intransitive) To form letters, words or symbols on a surface in order to communicate.
- The pupil wrote his name on the paper.
- Your son has been writing on the wall.
- (transitive) To be the author of (a book, article, poem, etc.).
- My uncle writes newspaper articles for The Herald.
- 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
- Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language […]; his clerks, however, understood him very well. If he had written a love letter, or a farce, or a ballade, or a story, no one, either clerks, or friends, or compositors, would have understood anything but a word here and a word there.
- 1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 151:
- Since I had started to break down all my writing and get rid of all facility and try to make instead of describe, writing had been wonderful to do. But it was very difficult, and I did not know how I would ever write anything as long as a novel. It often took me a full morning of work to write a paragraph.
- (transitive) To send written information to.
- (UK) Please write to me when you get there.
- (US) Please write me when you get there.
- (transitive) To show (information, etc) in written form.
- The due day of the homework is written in the syllabus.
- 1959 August, K. Hoole, “The Middlesbrough–Newcastle Route of the N.E.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 359:
- The route passes over low-lying land, the only item of note being the Cerebos salt works at Greatham, where one may catch a glimpse of the smart black diesel locomotive emblazoned with the firm's name writ large.
- (ditransitive with relative clause) To convey a fact to someone via writing.
- Jimmy wrote me that he needs more money.
- 1916 March 11, “[advertisement] Jim Henry, Optimist”, in Saturday Evening Post[2]:
- Do you know, one man actually wrote me he thought he could almost shave with the back of the blade, the lather "mellowed" his beard so.
- (intransitive) To be an author.
- I write for a living.
- 1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, page 151:
- I said that I did not believe anyone could write any way except the very best he could write without destroying his talent.
- (computing, intransitive, with to) To record data mechanically or electronically.
- The computer writes to the disk faster than it reads from it.
- (transitive, South Africa, Canada, of an exam, a document, etc.) To fill in, to complete using words.
- I was very anxious to know my score after I wrote the test.
- 2023, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, A Spell of Good Things, Canongate Books, page 132:
- Kúnlé had failed biology and chemistry, key requirements for admission into any medical school in the country. Kúnlé’s father wanted him to write the exams again.
- To impress durably; to imprint; to engrave.
- truth written on the heart
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 2:14–15:
- 14 For when the Gentiles which haue not the Law, doe by nature the things contained in the Law: these hauing not the Law, are a Law vnto themselues,
15 Which shew the worke of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witnesse, and their thoughts the meane while accusing, or else excusing one another:
- To make known by writing; to record; to prove by one's own written testimony; often used reflexively.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:
- Thoſe walled garriſons will I ſubdue,
And write my ſelfe great Lord of Affrica:
So from the Eaſt vnto the furtheſt Weſt,
Shall Tamburlaine extend his puiſant arme.
- 1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC:
- He who writes himself Martyr by his own inscription, is like an ill painter, who by writing on a shapeless picture which he hath drawn, is fain to tell passengers what shape it is, which else no man could imagine.
- (finance) To sell (an option or other derivative).
- (chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy) To paint a religious icon.
Conjugation
[edit]infinitive | (to) write | ||
---|---|---|---|
present tense | past tense | ||
1st-person singular | write | wrote | |
2nd-person singular | write, writest† | wrote, wrotest† | |
3rd-person singular | writes, writeth† | wrote | |
plural | write | ||
subjunctive | write | wrote | |
imperative | write | — | |
participles | writing | written |
Synonyms
[edit]- (form letters, words or symbols in order to communicate): inscribe, scrawl (indistinctly), scribble (quickly or imprecisely)
- (be the author of): author, pen
- (send (a letter) to): to post
- (show (information, etc) in written form): display, indicate, mark, show
- (computing: store (data)): save, store
- (fill in, complete): sit (Commonwealth)
- See also Thesaurus:write
Antonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]- bewrite
- copy-on-write proxy
- co-write
- cross write
- don't forget to write
- forewrite
- ghost write
- ghost-write
- hand-written
- inwrite
- nothing to write home about
- overwrite
- read-write
- rewrite
- something to write home about
- teach to read and write
- that's all she wrote
- the jokes write themselves
- to write home about
- underwrite
- who writes this stuff
- write-ahead log
- write-ahead logging
- write as separate words
- writeback
- write-back
- write blocker
- write checks one can't cash
- write cheques one can't cash
- write down
- write-down
- write for the drawer
- write head
- write in
- write-in
- write itself
- write off
- write-off
- write-onable
- write once
- write once, run anywhere
- write one's own ticket
- write-only
- write-only memory
- write out
- write over
- writer
- write the book
- write-through
- write up
- write-up
- writing
- writ large
Translations
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Noun
[edit]write (plural writes)
- The act or style of writing.
- 1938, The Bankers Monthly, volume 55, page 591:
- The pen also gives a better write than the ordinary counter pen. The ink stand cannot be stolen, for it is fastened to the counter or desk.
- (computing) The operation of storing data, as in memory or onto disk.
- How many writes per second can this hard disk handle?
- 2006, MySQL administrator's guide and language reference, page 393:
- In other words, the system can do 1200 reads per second with no writes, the average write is twice as slow as the average read, and the relationship is linear.
Derived terms
[edit]References
[edit]- “write”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “write”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
[edit]Middle English
[edit]Verb
[edit]write
- Alternative form of writen
Old English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]wrīte
- inflection of wrītan:
Verb
[edit]write
- inflection of wrītan:
West Frisian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Old Frisian wrīta, from Proto-West Germanic *wrītan. Cognate with English write, Dutch wrijten.
Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]write
Inflection
[edit]Strong class 1 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
infinitive | write | |||
3rd singular past | wriet | |||
past participle | writen | |||
infinitive | write | |||
long infinitive | writen | |||
gerund | writen n | |||
auxiliary | hawwe | |||
indicative | present tense | past tense | ||
1st singular | wryt | wriet | ||
2nd singular | wrytst | wrietst | ||
3rd singular | wryt | wriet | ||
plural | write | wrieten | ||
imperative | wryt | |||
participles | writend | writen |
Further reading
[edit]“write”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/aɪt
- Rhymes:English/aɪt/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English ditransitive verbs
- en:Computing
- South African English
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- English nouns
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- English class 1 strong verbs
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- en:Communication
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English verbs
- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English non-lemma forms
- Old English verb forms
- West Frisian terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- West Frisian terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- West Frisian terms inherited from Old Frisian
- West Frisian terms derived from Old Frisian
- West Frisian terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- West Frisian terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- West Frisian terms with IPA pronunciation
- West Frisian lemmas
- West Frisian verbs
- West Frisian class 1 strong verbs