write
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: rīt
ipa: /ɹaɪt/
ipa: [ɹaɪt]
ipa: [ɹɐɪt]
ipa: [ɹɑjt]
ipa: [ɹæ̙ːt]
ipa: [ɹæ̙ːʔ]
ipa: [ɹəjt]
ipa: [ɹɑɪt]
rhymes: -aɪt
homophone: right
homophone: rite
homophone: wright
Forms: form: writes
form: writing
form: wrote
form: writ
form: written
form: writ
form: ywriten
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: write
form: write
form: wrote
form: write
form: writest
form: wrote
form: wrotest
form: writes
form: writeth
form: wrote
form: write
form: wrote
form: write
form: wrote
form: write
form: -
form: writing
form: written
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.
Senses: examples: text: The pupil wrote his name on the paper.
text: Your son has been writing on the wall.
glosses: To form letters, words or symbols on a surface in order to communicate.
examples: text: My uncle writes newspaper articles for The Herald.
text: 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.
ref: 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 151:
glosses: To be the author of (a book, article, poem, etc.).
examples: text: (UK) Please write to me when you get there.
text: (US) Please write me when you get there.
glosses: To send written information to.
examples: text: The due day of the homework is written in the syllabus.
text: Ghana's motto, writ large on the gleaming white Independence Arch that overlooks the Atlantic in Accra, is "Freedom and Justice."
ref: 1957 September 30, “Ghana: White Eminence”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 Oct 2011:
text: 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.
ref: 1959 August, K. Hoole, “The Middlesbrough–Newcastle Route of the N.E.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 359:
glosses: To show (information, etc) in written form.
examples: text: Jimmy wrote me that he needs more money.
text: 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.
ref: 1916 March 11, “[advertisement] Jim Henry, Optimist”, in Saturday Evening Post:
glosses: To convey a fact to someone via writing.
raw_tags: with relative clause
examples: text: I write for a living.
text: I said that I did not believe anyone could write any way except the very best he could write without destroying his talent.
ref: 1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, page 151:
glosses: To be an author.
examples: text: The computer writes to the disk faster than it reads from it.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To record data mechanically or electronically.
raw_tags: with to
examples: text: I was very anxious to know my score after I wrote the test.
text: 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.
ref: 2023, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, A Spell of Good Things, Canongate Books, page 132:
qualifier: a document
glosses: To fill in, to complete using words.
raw_tags: of an exam
examples: text: truth written on the heart
text: 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:
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 2:14–15:
glosses: To impress durably; to imprint; to engrave.
examples: text: 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.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [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:
text: 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.
ref: 1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To make known by writing; to record; to prove by one's own written testimony; often used reflexively.
topics: business
finance
glosses: To sell (an option or other derivative).
qualifier: chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy
glosses: To paint a religious icon or a pysanka egg.
Synonyms: sense: form letters, words or symbols in order to communicate
word: inscribe
sense: form letters, words or symbols in order to communicate
alt: indistinctly
word: scrawl
sense: form letters, words or symbols in order to communicate
english: quickly or imprecisely
translation: quickly or imprecisely
word: scribble
sense: be the author of
word: author
sense: be the author of
word: pen
sense: send (a letter) to
word: to post
sense: show (information, etc) in written form
word: display
sense: show (information, etc) in written form
word: indicate
sense: show (information, etc) in written form
word: mark
sense: show (information, etc) in written form
word: show
sense: computing: store (data)
word: save
word: store
sense: fill in
word: sit
word: write
Hypernyms: word: author
word: compose
word: create
Hyponyms: word: copywrite
word: versify
Meronyms: word: brainstorm
word: copyedit
word: define
word: describe
word: draft
word: edit
word: elaborate
word: explain
word: express
word: formulate
word: frame
word: introduce
word: narrate
word: phrase
word: prewrite
word: proofread
word: outline
word: review
word: revise
word: specify
word: word
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
write-back
writeback
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 oneself into a corner
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
Related terms: word: handwrite