English
Pronunciation
- enPR: rītʹĭng, IPA(key): /ˈɹaɪtɪŋ/
- Hyphenation: writ‧ing
- Rhymes: -aɪtɪŋ
- Homophone: riding (some varieties with flapping)
Etymology 1
From Middle English writing, writyng, wryting, wrytyng, from Old English wrīting (“writing”), equivalent to write + -ing.
Noun
writing (countable and uncountable, plural writings)
- (uncountable) Graphism of symbols such as letters that express some meaning.
2003, William G. Boltz, The Origin and the Development of the Chinese Writing System, page 14:Because writing of any kind is no more and no less than a graphic representation of speech […] , to study its nature and history we must often have recourse to the speech, that is, to the language, that the writing writes.
2017, Anthony J. McMichael, Alistair Woodward, Cameron Muir, Climate Change and the Health of Nations, →ISBN, page 115:Early writing appeared in both societies around 3000 B.C.E., mainly for administrative purposes in Egypt and for accounting and trading in Sumer.
- (countable) Something written, such as a document, article or book.
- (uncountable) The process of representing a language with symbols or letters.
- (countable) A work of an author.
Congrats, you did an interesting piece of writing.
- (countable) The style of writing of a person.
I can't read your writing.
- (as a modifier) Intended for or used in writing.
- a writing table
Synonyms
- (written letters or symbols that express some meaning): text
- (something written): document, manuscript, text
- (work of an author): work
- (the style of writing of a person): hand, handwriting
- (intended for or used in writing): alphabet, character, ideogram, logogram, pictogram, script, syllabary, writing system
Derived terms
Translations
written letters or symbols
- Afrikaans: skryfwerk
- Albanian: shkrim (sq) m
- Amharic: መጻፍ (mäṣaf)
- Arabic: كِتَابَة f (kitāba)
- Egyptian Arabic: كتابة f (ketāba)
- Aramaic:
- Hebrew script: כתבא m (ktābā, ktobo)
- Syriac: ܟܬܒܐ m (ktābā, ktobo)
- Armenian: գիր (hy) (gir), գրելը (grelə), գրություն (hy) (grutʻyun)
- Aromanian: scriari f, scriiturã f
- Azerbaijani: yazı (az)
- Bashkir: яҙма (yaźma)
- Basque: idazketa
- Belarusian: пісьмо́ n (pisʹmó), пі́сьменнасць f (písʹmjennascʹ)
- Bengali: লিখন (bn) (likhon)
- Breton: skritur f
- Bulgarian: пи́сане n (písane), пи́сменост (bg) f (písmenost)
- Burmese: အရေးအသား (my) (a.re:a.sa:)
- Catalan: escriptura (ca) f
- Chechen: йаздар (jazdar)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 文字 (zh) (wénzì)
- Czech: písmo (cs) n
- Danish: skrift (da) c
- Dutch: schrift (nl) n, schrijfsel (nl) n, geschrift (nl) n
- Egyptian: (zẖꜣ)
- Esperanto: skribo
- Estonian: kiri (et)
- Extremaduran: escreviúra f
- Finnish: kirjoitus (fi)
- French: écriture (fr) f
- Friulian: scriture f
- Galician: escrita f
- Georgian: წერა (ka) (c̣era)
- German: Schrift (de) f
- Gothic: 𐌼𐌴𐌻 n (mēl)
- Greek: γραφή (el) f (grafí)
- Ancient Greek: γραφή f (graphḗ)
- Hebrew: כְּתִיבָה (he) f (ktivá)
- Hindi: लेखन (hi) m (lekhan), लिखाई (hi) f (likhāī)
- Hungarian: írás (hu)
- Icelandic: skrift (is) f
- Ido: skribado (io)
- Indonesian: tulisan (id)
- Irish: scríbhneoireacht f
- Italian: scrittura (it) f
- Japanese: 筆記 (ja) (ひっき, hikki), 文字 (ja) (もんじ, monji, もじ, moji)
- Kannada: ಬರವಣಿಗೆ (kn) (baravaṇige)
- Kapampangan: pamagsulat, pamanyulat
- Kazakh: жазу (kk) (jazu)
- Khmer: ការសរសេរ (kaa sɑsee)
- Korean: 쓰기 (ko) (sseugi), 문자(文字) (ko) (munja)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: نوسین (nusîn)
- Kyrgyz: жазуу (ky) (jazuu)
- Lao: ການຂຽນ (kān khīan)
- Latin: scriptum (la) n, codex, caudex
- Latvian: rakstīšana (lv) f
- Lithuanian: rašymas (lt) m
- Luxembourgish: Schrëft f
- Macedonian: пишување n (pišuvanje)
- Malay: tulisan (ms), penulisan (ms)
- Malayalam: എഴുത്ത് (ml) (eḻuttŭ)
- Maltese: kitba f
- Marathi: लेखन (lekhan)
- Miwok:
- Central Sierra Miwok: sykýˀ-ja-
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: бичиг (mn) (bičig)
- Norman: êcrituthe f (Jersey)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: skrift (no) f
- Nynorsk: skrift (nn) f
- Persian:
- Dari: نَوِشْتَه (nawišta)
- Iranian Persian: نِوِشْتِه (nevešte)
- Plautdietsch: Schreft f
- Polish: pismo (pl) n
- Portuguese: escrita (pt) f
- Punjabi: ਲਿਖਾਈ (likhāī)
- Quechua: qillqa (qu)
- Romanian: scriere (ro) f
- Russian: пи́сьменность (ru) f (písʹmennostʹ), письмо́ (ru) n (pisʹmó)
- Scottish Gaelic: sgrìobhadh m
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: писање n
- Latin: pisanje (sh) n
- Slovak: písmo n, písanie f
- Slovene: pisava (sl) f
- Spanish: escritura (es) f, escriptura f
- Swahili: andiko (sw) class ma
- Swedish: skrivkonst (sv) c, skrift (sv) c
- Tamil: எழுத்து (ta) (eḻuttu), எழுதுதல் (ta) (eḻututal)
- Telugu: రాత (te) (rāta)
- Thai: การเขียน (th) (gaan-kǐian)
- Tuoba: 地何 (*dɪʁa)
- Turkish: yazı (tr)
- Ottoman Turkish: یازی (yazı), سواد (sevâd)
- Ukrainian: писе́мність f (pysémnistʹ), письмо́ n (pysʹmó)
- Urdu: لیکَھن m (lekhan)
- Uyghur: يېزىق (yëziq)
- Uzbek: yozuv (uz)
- Vietnamese: chữ viết (vi)
- Welsh: ysgrifen (cy) f
- Yiddish: שריפֿט f (shrift)
- Yucatec Maya: tsʼíib
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something written
- Acehnese: teunuléh
- Albanian: shkrim (sq) m
- Arabic: كِتَابَة f (kitāba)
- Egyptian Arabic: كتابة f (ketāba)
- Aramaic:
- Hebrew script: כתבא m (ktābā, ktobo)
- Syriac: ܟܬܒܐ m (ktābā, ktobo)
- Armenian: գրություն (hy) (grutʻyun)
- Aromanian: scriari f, scriiturã f
- Bashkir: яҙма (yaźma)
- Bulgarian: писа́ние (bg) n (pisánie), на́дпис (bg) m (nádpis)
- Czech: spis (cs) m
- Dutch: schrijfsel (nl) n, geschrift (nl) n
- Esperanto: skribaĵo
- Estonian: kirjutis
- Finnish: kirjoitus (fi)
- French: écrit (fr) m
- Friulian: scriture f
- German: Schrift (de) f, Schriftstück (de) n
- Gothic: 𐌱𐍉𐌺𐌰 f (bōka)
- Greek: γραπτό (el) f (graptó), έγγραφο (el) n (éngrafo)
- Ancient Greek: γραφή f (graphḗ), δέλτος f (déltos)
- Hebrew: כְּתוּבִים (he) m pl (ktuvím)
- Hindi: , लिखित (hi) (likhit), लेख (hi) m (lekh)
- Hungarian: írás (hu)
- Indonesian: tulisan (id)
- Latin: scriptum (la) n
- Malay: tulisan (ms)
- Marathi: लेखन n (lekhan)
- Mongolian: ᠪᠢᠴᠢᠮᠡᠯ (bičimel)
- Cyrillic: бичмэл (mn) (bičmel)
- Norman: êcrithie f (Jersey)
- Plautdietsch: Schreft f
- Polish: napis (pl) m, pismo (pl) n
- Portuguese: escrita (pt) f
- Romanian: scriere (ro) f, scriitură (ro) f
- Russian: писа́ние (ru) n (pisánije), за́пись (ru) f (zápisʹ), на́дпись (ru) f (nádpisʹ)
- Slovene: zapis m
- Spanish: escrito (es) m, escritura (es) f, escripto (es) m, escriptura f
- Swahili: maandiko (sw) class ma
- Turkish: yazı (tr)
- Ottoman Turkish: یازی (yazı), سواد (sevâd)
- Ukrainian: писа́ння n (pysánnja)
- Welsh: ysgrif (cy)
- Yucatec Maya: tsʼíib
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process of representing a language
- Arabic: كِتَابَة f (kitāba)
- Azerbaijani: yazı (az)
- Bashkir: яҙыу (yaźıw)
- Belarusian: піса́нне n (pisánnje), піса́ньне n (pisánʹnje), пісьмо́ n (pisʹmó)
- Bulgarian: пи́сане n (písane)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 寫作 / 写作 (zh) (xiězuò)
- Czech: psaní (cs) n
- Dutch: geschrijf (nl) n, schrijven (nl) n
- Estonian: kirjutamine (et)
- Finnish: kirjoittaminen (fi)
- French: écriture (fr) f
- German: Schreiben (de) n, (only idiomatic) Schrift (de) f
- Greek: γραφή (el) f (grafí)
- Hebrew: כְּתִיבָה (he) f (ktivá)
- Hungarian: írás (hu)
- Indonesian: penulisan (id), kepenulisan
- Interlingua: scriptura
- Japanese: 書くこと (ja) (かくこと, kaku koto), ライティング (ja) (raitingu), 執筆 (ja) (しっぴつ, shippitsu) (professional)
- Kazakh: жазу (kk) (jazu)
- Korean: 쓰기 (ko) (sseugi), 적기 (ko) (jeokgi), 집필(執筆) (ko) (jip'pil) (professional)
- Kyrgyz: жазуу (ky) (jazuu)
- Ladino:
- Latin: eskritura f
- Latin: scriptūra (la) f
- Luganda: okuwandiika
- Macedonian: пишување n (pišuvanje)
- Mongolian: ᠪᠢᠴᠢᠯᠭᠡ (bičilge)
- Cyrillic: бичлэг (mn) (bičleg)
- Norman: êcrituthe f (Jersey)
- Persian:
- Dari: نَوِیسَنْدَگِی (nawīsandagī)
- Iranian Persian: نِویسَنْدِگی (nevisandegi)
- Polish: pisanie (pl) n
- Portuguese: escrita (pt) f
- Romanian: scris (ro)
- Russian: писа́ние (ru) n (pisánije), письмо́ (ru) n (pisʹmó)
- Slovak: písanie n
- Slovene: pisanje n
- Spanish: escritura (es) f, escriptura f
- Swahili: maandiko (sw) class ma, uandikaji
- Tagalog: panulatan
- Tajik: нависандагӣ (navisandagi)
- Turkish: yazı (tr)
- Ottoman Turkish: یازی (yazı), سواد (sevâd)
- Turkmen: ýazuw
- Ukrainian: письмо́ n (pysʹmó), писа́ння n (pysánnja)
- Uzbek: yozuv (uz)
- Võro: kirotaminõ
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work of an author
- Albanian: vepër (sq) f
- Bashkir: әҫәр (əśər)
- Belarusian: твор m (tvor)
- Bulgarian: произведе́ние (bg) n (proizvedénie), труд (bg) m (trud)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 寫作 / 写作 (zh) (xiězuò), 著作 (zh) (zhùzuò)
- Czech: spis (cs) m
- Dutch: schrijfsel (nl) n, werk (nl) n, oeuvre (nl) n
- Estonian: kirjutis, kirjatöö, teos
- Finnish: kirjoitus (fi), teos (fi)
- French: œuvre (fr) f
- German: Schrift (de) f, Arbeit (de) f, Werk (de) n
- Greek: έργο (el) n (érgo)
- Hindi: रचना (hi) f (racnā), लेख (hi) (lekh)
- Indonesian: tulisan (id), karangan (id)
- Japanese: 著作 (ja) (ちょさく, chosaku)
- Korean: 저작(著作) (ko) (jeojak)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: نوسین (nusîn)
- Polish: utwór (pl) m, dzieło (pl) n
- Portuguese: obra (pt) f
- Russian: (литерату́рное) произведе́ние (ru) n (proizvedénije)
- Spanish: escrito (es) m, escritura (es) f, escripto (es) m, escriptura f
- Swahili: maandiko (sw) class ma
- Telugu: రచన (te) (racana) (usually plural), రచనలు (racanalu)
- Turkish: yazı (tr)
- Ukrainian: твір (uk) m (tvir)
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made for or used in writing
Etymology 2
From Middle English writinge, wrytynge, writende, writand, from Old English wrītende, present participle of Old English wrītan (“to scratch, carve, write”), equivalent to write + -ing.
Verb
writing
- present participle and gerund of write
- 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- What are you doing? ― Um, I’m writing. ― You are writing! You are writing a lot!
Anagrams
Old English
Etymology
From wrītan + -ing.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwriː.tinɡ/, [ˈwriː.tiŋɡ]
Noun
wrīting f
- writing
Declension
Strong ō-stem:
Derived terms
Descendants