write

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.

verb

1. (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.
2. (transitive) To be the author of (a book, article, poem, etc.).
   My uncle writes newspaper articles for The Herald.
3. (transitive) To send written information to.
   (UK) Please write to me when you get there.
   (US) Please write me when you get there.
4. (transitive) To show (information, etc) in written form.
   The due day of the homework is written in the syllabus.
   Ghana's motto, writ large on the gleaming white Independence Arch that overlooks the Atlantic in Accra, is "Freedom and Justice." 30 September 1957, “Ghana: White Eminence”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2011-10-19
   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. 1959 August, K. Hoole, “The Middlesbrough–Newcastle Route of the N.E.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 359
5. (ditransitive with relative clause) To convey a fact to someone via writing.
   Jimmy wrote me that he needs more money.
   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. 11 March 1916, “[advertisement] Jim Henry, Optimist”, in Saturday Evening Post
6. (intransitive) To be an author.
   I write for a living.
   I said that I did not believe anyone could write any way except the very best he could write without destroying his talent. 1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, page 151
7. (computing, intransitive, with to) To record data mechanically or electronically.
   The computer writes to the disk faster than it reads from it.
8. (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.
9. To impress durably; to imprint; to engrave.
   truth written on the heart
10. To make known by writing; to record; to prove by one's own written testimony; often used reflexively.
11. (finance) To sell (an option or other derivative).
12. (chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy) To paint a religious icon.

noun

1. The act or style of writing.
   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. 1938, The Bankers Monthly, volume 55, page 591
2. (computing) The operation of storing data, as in memory or onto disk.
   How many writes per second can this hard disk handle?
   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. 2006, MySQL administrator's guide and language reference, page 393