Etimology
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
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.
(transitive) To be the author of (a book, article, poem, etc.).
(transitive) To send written information to.
(transitive) To show (information, etc) in written form.
(ditransitive with relative clause) To convey a fact to someone via writing.
(intransitive) To be an author.
(computing, intransitive, with to) To record data mechanically or electronically.
(transitive, South Africa, Canada, of an exam, a document, etc.) To fill in, to complete using words.
To impress durably; to imprint; to engrave.
To make known by writing; to record; to prove by one's own written testimony; often used reflexively.
(finance) To sell (an option or other derivative).
(chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy) To paint a religious icon.
Examples
The pupil wrote his name on the paper.
Your son has been writing on the wall.
My uncle writes newspaper articles for The Herald.
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.
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.
Please write to me when you get there.
Please write me when you get there.
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."
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.
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.
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.
The computer writes to the disk faster than it reads from it.
I was very anxious to know my score after I wrote the test.
truth written on the heart
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:
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.
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.
Related words
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
noun
write (plural writes)
The act or style of writing.
(computing) The operation of storing data, as in memory or onto disk.
Examples
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.
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.