# write
## English
### Etymology

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

* enPR: rīt, IPA: /ɹaɪt/
** (Received Pronunciation) IPA: [ɹaɪt]
** (US) IPA: [ɹɐɪt]
** (Standard Southern British) IPA: [ɹɑjt]
** (MLE, Jamaica) IPA: [ɹæ̙ːt], [ɹæ̙ːʔ]
** (Canada) IPA: [ɹəjt]
** (General Australian) IPA: [ɹɑɪt]
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (UK); “to write”:(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪt
* Homophones: right, rite, wright

### Verb

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)
* (ambitransitive) 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.
** 1957 September 30, “Ghana: White Eminence”, in Time‎, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 October 2011:Ghana's motto, writ large on the gleaming white Independence Arch that overlooks the Atlantic in Accra, is "Freedom and Justice."
** 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: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

$^†$ Archaic or obsolete.

#### Synonyms

* (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

* (antonym(s) of “computing: store (data)”): load, read, retrieve

#### Derived terms

* 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

Abkhaz: аҩра (ajʷra)
Acehnese: tuléh
Afrikaans: skryf (af)
Akan: kyerɛw
Aklanon: sueat
Albanian: shkruaj (sq)
Amharic: ጻፈ (ṣafä), ደረሰ (däräsä)
Andi: хъвару (qˣʷaru)
Arabic: كَتَبَ (ar) (kataba)
Chadian Arabic: كتب (katab)
Egyptian Arabic: كتب (katab)
Gulf Arabic: كِتَب (kɪtəb)
Aragonese: escribir (an)
Aramaic: ܟܬܒܬܐ
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܟܬܒ (kateb)
Hebrew: כתב (arc) (kātēb)
Armenian: գրել (hy) (grel)
Aromanian: scriu
Assamese: লিখ (likh), লেখ (lekh)
Asturian: escribir (ast)
Aukan: sikiifi
Avar: хъвазе (qxʷaze)
Azerbaijani: yazmaq (az)
Bashkir: яҙыу (yaźıw)
Basque: idatzi
Bavarian: please add this translation if you can
Belarusian: піса́ць impf (pisácʹ) напіса́ць pf (napisácʹ)
Bengali: লেখা (bn) (lekha)
Bhojpuri: लिखल (likhal)
Bikol Central: surat (bcl)
Breton: skrivañ (br)
Bulgarian: пиша (bg) impf (piša)
Burmese: ရေး (my) (re:), စာရေး (my) (care:)
Catalan: escriure (ca)
Cebuano: sulat
Chechen: йаз дан (jaz dan)
Chichewa: -lemba
Chickasaw: holissochi
Chinese:
Cantonese: 寫 / 写 (se$^2$, se$^3$)
Dungan: ще (xi͡ə)
Eastern Min: 寫 / 写 (siā)
Gan: 寫 / 写 (xia$^3$)
Hakka: 寫 / 写 (siá)
Hokkien: 寫 / 写 (zh-min-nan) (siá)
Jin: 寫 / 写 (xie$^2$)
Mandarin: 寫 / 写 (zh) (xiě), 撰寫 (zh) (zhuànxiě)
Northern Min: 寫 / 写 (siǎ)
Wu: 寫 / 写 ($^5$shia)
Xiang: 寫 / 写 (sia$^3$)
Chukchi: кэԓичитык (kėḷičityk)
Chuvash: ҫыр (śyr)
Classical Syriac: ܟܬܒ (kātēb)
Coptic: ⲥϧⲁⲓ (sxai)
Cornish: scryfa
Crimean Tatar: yazmaq
Czech: psát (cs) impf, napsat (cs) pf
Danish: skrive (da)
Dhivehi: ލިޔަނީ (liyanī)
Dutch: schrijven (nl)
Dzongkha: ཡི་གུ་བྲི (yi gu bri)
Egyptian: (zẖꜣ)
Esperanto: skribi (eo)
Estonian: kirjutama (et)
Evenki: дуку- (duku-)
Ewe: ŋlɔ
Extremaduran: escrebil
Farefare: gʋlsɛ
Faroese: rita (fo), skriva (fo)
Fataluku: kerekere
Finnish: kirjoittaa (fi)
French: écrire (fr)
Old French: escrivre, escrire
Friulian: scrivi
Galician: escribir (gl)
Ge'ez: ጸሐፈ (ṣäḥäfä), ከተበ (kätäbä)
Georgian: დაწერა (dac̣era), მიწერა (mic̣era)
German: schreiben (de)
Alemannic German: schriibe
Gothic: 𐌼𐌴𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (mēljan)
Greek: γράφω (el) (gráfo)
Ancient: γράφω (gráphō)
Greenlandic: allappoq
Guaraní: hai (gn)
Gujarati: લખવું (lakhvũ)
Haitian Creole: ekri
Hausa: r̃ubū̀tā
Hawaiian: kākau
Hebrew: כָּתַב (he) (katáv)
Higaonon: tagsulat
Hindi: लिखना (hi) (likhnā)
Hungarian: ír (hu)
Icelandic: skrifa (is)
Ido: skribar (io)
Indonesian: menulis (id)
Ingrian: kirjuttaa
Ingush: язде (jazde)
Inuktitut: ᑎᑎᕋᖅᑐᖅ (titiraqtoq)
Irish: scríobh
Isoko: kere
Istriot: screîvi
Italian: scrivere (it)
Japanese: 書く (ja) (かく, kaku)
Javanese: nulis (jv)
Jingpho: ka
Kabuverdianu: skrebi
Kaingang: rán
Kannada: ಬರೆ (kn) (bare)
Kashmiri: لیکھُن (lēkhun)
Kashubian: napisz
Kazakh: жазу (kk) (jazu)
Khmer: សរសេរ (km) (sɑsee)
Konkani: बरेउंचे (bareũce)
Korean: 쓰다 (ko) (sseuda), 적다 (ko) (jeokda)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: نوسین (nusîn)
Northern Kurdish: nivîsîn (ku), nivîsîn (ku), nivîsandin (ku)
Kyrgyz: жазуу (ky) (jazuu)
Laboya: tolha
Ladin: scriver
Ladino: eskrivir
Lao: ຂຽນ (lo) (khīan)
Latgalian: raksteit
Latin: scrībō (la)
Latvian: rakstīt (lv)
Lingala: koma
Lithuanian: rašyti (lt)
Lombard: scriv (lmo)
Low German: schrieven (nds)
Luganda: -wandiika
Macedonian: пишува impf (pišuva)
Makasae: kereke
Malay: tulis (ms)
Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
Maltese: kiteb
Manchu: ᠠᡵᠠᠮᠪᡳ (arambi)
Mansaka: solat
Maori: tuhi
Marathi: लिहिणे (lihiṇe)
Mariupol Greek: гра́фту (hráftu)
Mauritian Creole: ekrir
Mazanderani: please add this translation if you can
Mbyá Guaraní: mbopara
Middle English: writen
Middle Low German: wrīten, schrīven
Middle Persian: 𐭭𐭯𐭩𐭱𐭲𐭭 (npyštn)
Mirandese: screbir
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: бичих (mn) (bičix)
Mongolian: ᠪᠢᠴᠢᠬᠦ (bičikü)
Moore: gʋlse
Moroccan Amazigh: ⴰⵔⴰ (ara)
Nahuatl:
Classical: ihcuiloa
Highland Puebla: quijcui̱lo̱a
Mecayapan: quijcuilohua
Northern Puebla: quiihcuilohua
Tetelcingo: qui̱jcui̱loa
Nanai: ниру- (niru-)
Navajo: akʼeʼełchí
Nepali: लेख्नु (ne) (lekhnu)
Ngazidja Comorian: hwandziha, ≈ for (s.o.) hwandzishia
Norman: écrire (Guernsey), êcrithe (Jersey)
North Frisian:
Föhr-Amrum: skriiw
Mooring: schriwe
Northern Sami: čállit
Norwegian:
Bokmål: skrive (no)
Nynorsk: skriva
Occitan: escriure (oc)
Odia: ଲେଖ (or) (lekha)
Ojibwe: ozhibii'ige
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: пьсати impf (pĭsati)
Old East Slavic: писати impf (pisati)
Old English: wrītan (ang)
Old Frisian: skrīva
Old Norse: ríta
Old Saxon: wrītan, skrīƀan
Old Turkic: 𐰋𐰃𐱅𐰃 (biti-)
Oromo: barreessuu
Ossetian: фыссын (fyssyn)
Ottoman Turkish: یازمق (yazmak)
Pangasinan: mansulat
Pannonian Rusyn: писац impf (pisac), написац pf (napisac)
Papiamentu: skirbi
Pashto: کاږل (kāẓǝl), کويښل (kwex̌ǝl), کوښل (kox̌ǝl)
Pennsylvania German: schreiwe
Persian:
Dari: نَوِشْتَن (nawištan)
Iranian Persian: نِوِشْتَن (neveštan)
Piedmontese: scrive
Polish: pisać (pl) impf, napisać (pl) pf, pisywać (pl) impf (to write from time to time)
Portuguese: escrever (pt), redigir (pt)
Punjabi: ਲਿਖਣਾ (likhṇā)
Purepecha: karáni
Romanian: scrie (ro)
Romansch: scriver, screiver
Russian: писа́ть (ru) impf (pisátʹ), написа́ть (ru) pf (napisátʹ)
Samoan: tusi
Sanskrit: लिखति (sa) (likhati)
Sardinian: iscri, iscribere, iscriere, iscriri, iscrivere, scriri
Scots: scrieve
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: пи́сати impf
Roman: písati (sh) impf
Shan: တႅမ်ႈ (shn) (tēm)
Sherpa: བྲིག (brig)
Sicilian: scrìviri (scn)
Sindhi: لکڻ
Sinhalese: ලියනවා (liyanawā)
Slovak: písať (sk) impf, napísať pf
Slovene: pisati (sl) impf
Somali: qorid
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: pisaś impf, napisaś pf
Upper Sorbian: pisać (hsb) impf, napisać pf
Sotho: ngola (st)
Southern Ohlone: enne
Spanish: escribir (es)
Sranan Tongo: skrifi
Swahili: kuandika
Swedish: skriva (sv)
Sylheti: ꠟꠦꠈꠣ (lexá)
Tagalog: sumulat, isulat
Tahitian: papai
Tajik: навиштан (tg) (navištan)
Talysh: nıvışte
Tamil: எழுது (ta) (eḻutu)
Tatar: язарга (tt) (yazarga)
Tausug: sulat, tulis
Tetum: hakerek
Thai: เขียน (th) (kǐian), ขีด (th) (kìit)
Tibetan: འབྲི ('bri)
Tocharian B: pik-
Tok Pisin: rait, raitim
Tongan: tohi
Tumbuka: lemba
Turkish: yazmak (tr)
Turkmen: ýazmak
Udmurt: гожъяны (gožjany)
Ugaritic: 𐎋𐎚𐎁 (ktb)
Ukrainian: писа́ти (uk) impf (pysáty), написа́ти pf (napysáty)
Urdu: لِکْھنا (likhnā)
Uyghur: يازماق (yazmaq)
Uzbek: yozmoq (uz)
Venetan: scrivar, scriver
Vietnamese: viết (vi), ghi (vi)
Walloon: scrire (wa)
Welsh: ysgrifennu (cy)
West Frisian: skriuwe
Western Bukidnon Manobo: surat
Yagnobi: нипишак (nipišak)
Yakut: суруй (suruy)
Yiddish: שרײַבן (shraybn)
Yoruba: kọ
Yucatec Maya: tsʼíib, tsʼíibt
Zazaki: nusayîş, nuştiş
Zhuang: sij, raiz :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

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

* quick-write

### References

* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “write”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “write”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* twier, twire

## Middle English
### Verb

write
* Alternative form of writen

## Old English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈwriː.te/
* IPA: /ˈwri.te/

### Verb

wrīte
* inflection of wrītan:
** first-person singular present indicative
** singular present subjunctive

### Verb

write
* inflection of wrītan:
** second-person singular preterite indicative
** singular preterite subjunctive

## West Frisian
### Etymology

From Old Frisian wrīta, from Proto-West Germanic *wrītan. Cognate with English write, Dutch wrijten.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈvritə/

### Verb

write
* to rip, to tear
* to be painful, to sting

#### Further reading

“write”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011