# write

/ˈɹaɪt/ (US) · /ɹˈaɪt/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/write
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. to form letters

verb · CEFR A1

to make letters, numbers, or symbols on a surface like paper or a screen.

For teachers: to form characters, symbols, or words on a substrate such as paper or a digital interface.

- Please write your name at the top of the page.
- The student wrote the equations on the whiteboard, carefully ensuring each symbol was legible for the rest of the class to follow.

### 2. to be an author

verb · CEFR A1

to create a book, story, poem, or article.

For teachers: to compose a literary, artistic, or journalistic work as its author.

- She wants to write a novel about her travels in Asia.
- After years of research, the historian finally began to write his definitive biography of the revolutionary leader.

### 3. to send a message

verb · CEFR A1

to send a letter or email to someone.

For teachers: to communicate with someone by sending a written or electronic message.

- I will write to you as soon as I arrive at the hotel.
- The manager promised to write the client immediately to clarify the terms of the new agreement.

Usage: In British English, you 'write to someone'; in American English, you can simply 'write someone'.

### 4. to record data

verb · CEFR B2 · Technical

to save information onto a computer disk or memory.

For teachers: to record data onto a storage medium or memory location.

- The computer is writing the files to the external drive now.
- The system failed because it could not write the log files to the disk due to insufficient permissions.

### 5. to sell an option

verb · CEFR C1 · Technical · Formal

to sell a financial contract like an option.

For teachers: to sell an options contract or other derivative, thereby taking on the obligation to fulfill its terms.

- He decided to write a covered call option to earn extra income.
- Institutional investors often write options to hedge their existing portfolios against sudden market volatility.

### 6. storing data

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

the act of saving data on a computer.

For teachers: the process or operation of recording data to a storage device.

- The error occurred during a disk write.
- The application performance was bottlenecked by the high frequency of random writes to the database.

## Examples

- Please write your name at the top of the page.
- I need to write a quick email to my boss before we leave for lunch.
- The author spent several years traveling across Europe to gather enough research to write her first historical novel.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.