writer

English

Etymology

From Middle English writer, writere, from Old English wrītere (“draughtsman; painter; writer; scribe; copyist”) and ġewritere (“writer; composer”), equivalent to write +‎ -er and writ +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪ.tə/, [ˈɹ̠aɪtə]

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪ.təɹ/, [ˈɹ̠ăɪɾɚ]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪ.təɹ/, [ˈɹ̠ʌɪɾɚ]
• Rhymes: -aɪtə(ɹ)
• Homophone: rider (in some accents)

Noun

writer (plural writers)

1. A person who writes, or produces literary work.

   Has your girlfriend written you another letter already? She’s quite a writer!

   I met some of my favourite authors at the writers' convention.

   • 1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed [by Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, OCLC 932915040, partition II, section 2, member 6, subsection iv, page 298:

     Beautie alone is a ſoveraigne remedy againſt feare,griefe,and all melancholy fits; a charm,as Peter de la Seine and many other writers affirme,a banquet it ſelfe;he gives inſtance in diſcontented Menelaus that was ſo often freed by Helenas faire face: and ^hTully, 3 Tusc. cites Epicurus as a chiefe patron of this Tenent.

2. Anything that writes or produces output.
   • 2001, Cay S. Horstmann, Gary Cornell, Core Java 2: Fundamentals (page 715)

     If the writer is set to autoflush mode, then all characters in the buffer are sent to their destination whenever println is called.

3. (finance) The seller of an option.
4. (historical) A clerk of a certain rank in the service of the East India Company, who, after serving a certain number of years, became a factor.
5. (Scotland) An ordinary legal practitioner in Scottish country towns.
6. (US) A petty officer in the United States navy who keeps the watch-muster and other books of the ship.

   Synonyms: ship writer, ship's writer

7. (slang) A graffiti artist.
   • 2003, Jonathan Lethem, The Fortress of Solitude, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 443:

     Writers were reunited with their crews, none having seen each other since back in the day, since they'd spun from teenage affiliations into lives more burdened and serious.

   • 2008, Lisa Gottlieb, Graffiti Art Styles: A Classification System and Theoretical Analysis, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 77:

     Two aspects of style co-exist in graffiti art, as explained in chapter 2. There is a writer's personal style, and there is iconic style, or style as convention.

Synonyms

• author
• See also Thesaurus:writer

Derived terms

Terms derived from writer (noun)

• copy writer
• ghost writer
• screenwriter
• space writer
• writer's cramp

Related terms

• write
• writing

Translations

person who writes; an author

• Afrikaans: skrywer (af)
• Albanian: shkrimtar (sq) m, shkrimtare (sq) f, autor (sq) m, autore (sq) f
• Arabic: كَاتِب‎ (ar) m (kātib), كَاتِبَة‎‎ f (kātiba), مُؤَلِّف‎ m (muʾallif), مُؤَلِّفَة‎ f (muʾallifa)
• Armenian: գրող (hy) (groł)
• Aromanian: scriitor m
• Assamese: লেখক (lekhok)
• Asturian: escritor m
• Azerbaijani: yazıçı (az)
• Bashkir: яҙыусы (yaðıwsı)
• Basque: idazle
• Belarusian: пісьме́ннік m (pisʹmjénnik), пісьме́нніца f (pisʹmjénnica), а́ўтар m (áŭtar), а́ўтарка f (áŭtarka)
• Bengali: লেখক (bn) (lekhôk)
• Bulgarian: писа́тел (bg) m (pisátel), писа́телка f (pisátelka), а́втор (bg) m (ávtor), а́вторка f (ávtorka)
• Burmese: စာရေးဆရာ (my) (care:hca.ra)
• Catalan: escriptor (ca) m, escriptora (ca) f
• Cebuano: tigsuwat
• Chechen: йаздархо (jazdarxo), яздархо (jazdarxo)
• Cherokee: ᏗᏃᏪᎵᏍᎩ (dinowelisgi)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 作家 (zok³ gaa¹)

  Mandarin: 作家 (zh) (zuòjiā), 作者 (zh) (zuòzhě), 筆者 (zh), 笔者 (zh) (bǐzhě)

• Crimean Tatar: müellif
• Czech: spisovatel (cs) m, spisovatelka (cs) f, autor (cs) m, autorka (cs) f
• Danish: forfatter (da) c
• Dutch: schrijver (nl) m, schrijfster (nl) f, auteur (nl) m or f
• Elfdalian: fefatter m
• Esperanto: skribanto, (professional) skribisto, verkisto
• Estonian: kirjanik (et)
• Ewe: nuŋlɔla
• Faroese: rithøvundur m
• Finnish: kirjoittaja (fi), kirjailija (fi)
• French: écrivain (fr) m, écrivaine (fr) f, auteur (fr) m, auteure (fr) f, autrice (fr) f
• Friulian: scritôr m
• Galician: escritor (gl) m
• Georgian: მწერალი (mc̣erali), ჭარუ (č̣aru)
• German: Schriftsteller (de) m, Schriftstellerin (de) f, Autor (de) m, Autorin (de) f, Schreiber (de) m, Schreiberin (de) f
• Greek: συγγραφέας (el) m or f (syngraféas)

  Ancient: συγγραφεύς m (sungrapheús), γραφεύς m (grapheús)

• Greenlandic: atuakkiortoq, oqaluttualiortoq
• Hebrew: כּוֹתֵב‎ (kotév), סוֹפֵר‎ (he) m (sofér), מְחַבֵּר‎ (he) m (m'khabér)
• Hindi: लेखक (hi) m (lekhak), लेखिका (hi) f (lekhikā)
• Hungarian: író (hu)
• Hunsrik: Schreiver m, Schreivrin f
• Icelandic: rithöfundur (is) m
• Inari Sami: kirječällee
• Indonesian: penulis (id), pengarang (id)
• Interlingua: scriptor
• Irish: scríbhneoir m
• Italian: scrittore (it) m, scrittrice (it) f, autore (it) m, autrice (it) f
• Japanese: 著者 (ja) (ちょしゃ, chosha), 作家 (ja) (さっか, sakka), 筆者 (ja) (ひっしゃ, hissha)
• Kalmyk: бичәч (bicha̋ch)
• Kashubian: pisôrz m, pisôrka f
• Kazakh: жазушы (kk) (jazuşy)
• Khmer: អ្នកនិពន្ធ (nĕək nipŭən), គន្ថការ (kŭənthaʼkaa)
• Korean: 저자(著者) (ko) (jeoja), 작가(作家) (ko) (jakga), 필자(筆者) (ko) (pilja), 글쓴이 (geulsseuni), 작자(作者) (ko) (jakja)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نوسەر‎ (nuser)

• Kyrgyz: жазуучу (ky) (jazuuçu)
• Lao: ນັກຂຽນ (lo) (nak khīan)
• Latin: scriptor m, scriptrix f
• Latvian: rakstnieks m, rakstniece f, autors m, autore f
• Ligurian: scritô
• Lingala: mokomi class c1/c2
• Lithuanian: rašytojas (lt) m, rašytoja (lt) f, autorius m, autorė f
• Luxembourgish: Schrëftsteller m, Auteur m
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: писател m (pisatel), писателка f (pisatelka), автор m (avtor), авторка f (avtorka)
• Maguindanao: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: penulis, pengarang, mualif, katib
• Maltese: kittieb m
• Manx: screeudeyr m
• Maori: kaituhi
• Maranao: please add this translation if you can
• Marathi: लेखक m (lekhak)
• Mon: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: зохиолч (mn) (zoxiolč), бичээч (mn) (bičeeč)

• Norman: auteu m (Jersey)
• Northern Sami: čálli, girječálli
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forfatter (no) m, skribent m

• Occitan: escrivan (oc) m
• Old English: wrītere
• Pali: lekhaka m
• Pashto: ليکوال‎ (ps) (líkwâl)
• Persian: نویسنده‎ (fa) (nevisande)
• Plautdietsch: Schreftstala m
• Polish: pisarz (pl) m pers, pisarka (pl) f, autor (pl) m, autorka (pl) f
• Portuguese: escritor (pt) m, escritora f
• Punjabi: لِکھاری‎ (likhārī)
• Romanian: scriitor (ro) m, scriitoare (ro) f, autor de cărți m
• Romansch: scriptur m, sriptura f, scrivent m, scriventa f
• Russian: писа́тель (ru) m (pisátelʹ), писа́тельница (ru) f (pisátelʹnica), а́втор (ru) m (ávtor)
• Samoan: tusitala
• Sanskrit: लेखक (sa) m (lekhaka)
• Scottish Gaelic: sgrìobhadair m, sgrìobhaiche m
• Seraiki: لِکھاری‎ (skr) (likhārī)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пи́сац m, писатељ m, писатѐљица f, спѝсатељ m, списатѐљица f, а̀утор m, а̀уторица f

  Roman: písac (sh) m, pisatelj m, pisatèljica f, spìsatelj (sh) m, spisatèljica (sh) f, àutor (sh) m, àutorica (sh) f

• Shan: ၽူႈတႅမ်ႈ (phūu tēm)
• Sinhalese: ලියන්නා (liyannā)
• Slovak: spisovateľ m, spisovateľka f, autor (sk) m, autorka (sk) f
• Slovene: pisátelj (sl) m, pisáteljica f, písec m, avtor m, avtorica f
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: spisowaćel m, spisowaćelka f

• Spanish: escritor (es) m, escritora (es) f
• Swahili: mwandishi (sw)
• Swedish: skribent (sv) c (of shorter articles, speeches, etc.), författare (sv) c (of books), skriftställare (sv) c (of several genres, may also publish and translate)
• Tagalog: manunulat (tl)
• Tai Nüa: please add this translation if you can
• Tajik: нависанда (tg) (navisanda)
• Tatar: язучы (tt) (yazuçı)
• Tausug: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: రచయిత (te) (racayita), రచయిత్రి (racayitri), గ్రంథకర్త (granthakarta), లేఖరి (te) (lēkhari), వ్రాశేవాడు (te) (vrāśēvāḍu)
• Thai: นักเขียน (th) (nák-kǐian), ผู้เขียน (pûu-kǐian)
• Turkish: müellif (tr), yazar (tr), yazıcı (tr)
• Turkmen: ýazyjy
• Ukrainian: письме́нник (uk) m (pysʹménnyk), письме́нниця f (pysʹménnycja), а́втор (uk) m (ávtor), а́вторка (uk) f (ávtorka)
• Urdu: لیکھک‎ m (lekhak)
• Uyghur: يازغۇچى‎ (yazghuchi)
• Uzbek: yozuvchi (uz)
• Vietnamese: nhà văn (vi)
• Volapük: lautan (vo)
• Walloon: scrijheu (wa) m, scrijheuse (wa) f
• Welsh: ysgrifennwr (cy) m
• Yiddish: מחבר‎ m (mekhaber), מעכאַבער‎ m (mekhaber), שרײַבער‎ m (shrayber), אויטאָר‎ m (oytor), פֿאַרפֿאַסער‎ m (farfaser), שריפֿטשטעלער‎ m (shriftshteler), וואָרטקינסטלער‎ m (vortkinstler), ליטעראַט‎ m (literat), פֿעדערניק‎ m (federnik)
• Zazaki: nusger, nustekar

References

• Jonathon Green (2023), “writer”, in Green's Dictionary of Slang

Anagrams

• rewrit, werrit

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• wryter, writere, wrytter, wrytere, wrijtere

Etymology

From Old English wrītere; can be synchronically analysed as writen +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwriːtər(ə)/

Noun

writer (plural writers)

1. A draughtsman, or copyist; one who notes down the words of another.
2. A record-keeper or annalist; one who records significant events.
3. A writer or author; one who writes.
4. (rare) One who produces a translation.

Related terms

• writen

Descendants

• English: writer
• Scots: writer

References

• “wrīter(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-30.