write

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To make letters, words, or symbols on a surface, usually with a pen or pencil.

   The pupil wrote his name on the paper.

2. 2
   verb

   To send someone a letter, message, or other written information.

   Please write to me when you get there.

3. 3
   verb

   To be the author of a book, article, poem, or other work.

   My uncle writes newspaper articles for The Herald.

4. 4
   verb

   To create the instructions for a computer program; to code.

   They write code faster than anybody else.

Multiword verbs with write

• write off Phrasal verb A1

  to accept something as lost or no longer valuable

Appears in

Simplified etymology

In the ancient Germanic languages, the idea behind write was “to score or carve,” reflecting the early practice of inscribing letters on wood. Its original meaning in Old English was “to draw or outline the shape of something.”

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, sc…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary