writer

W4R1I1T1E1R1
UK/ˈɹaɪ.tə(ɹ)/UK[ˈɹ̠aɪtə(ɹ̠)]US/ˈɹaɪ.təɹ/US[ˈɹ̠aɪɾɚ]

noun

A person who writes, or produces literary work; an author can refer to themselves as "the writer".

“the present writer (referring to oneself as the writer)”

Similar
ship writership's writerauthorpenman
Very commonScrabble 9

Meanings

writer1

nounwriter (plural writers)

plural writers

  1. A person who writes, or produces literary work; an author can refer to themselves as "the writer".

    the present writer (referring to oneself as the writer)

    4 more examples

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

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

    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.

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

    Though the writer has striven to dwell on aspects that have passed, or are passing away, it will be apparent that many features of Midland practice have been adopted as standard for the L.M.S.R. and other railways.

    1946 May and June, J. Alan Rannie, “The Midland of 35 Years Ago”, in Railway Magazine, page 200
  2. Anything that writes or produces output.

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

    2001, Cay S. Horstmann, Gary Cornell, Core Java 2: Fundamentals, page 715
  3. A machine or tool used for writing, often by chording keys on a specialized keyboard (e.g. braillewriter, microwriter, stenograph).
  4. businessThe seller of an option.
  5. historicalA clerk of a certain rank in the service of the East India Company, who, after serving a certain number of years, became a factor.
  6. ScotlandAn ordinary legal practitioner in Scottish country towns.
  7. USA petty officer in the United States navy who keeps the watch-muster and other books of the ship.

    Synonyms: ship writer, ship's writer

  8. slangA graffiti artist.

    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.

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

    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.

    2003, Jonathan Lethem, The Fortress of Solitude, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 443

Writer2

proper nounWriter (plural Writers)

plural Writers

  1. A surname originating as an occupation.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA petty officer in the United States navy who keeps the watch-muster and other books of the ship.

Similar
ship writership's writer

More synonyms by meaning

nounwrites (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)

Similar
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

writer · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*wreyd-der.?
  2. Proto-Germanic*wrītaną
  3. Proto-West Germanic*wrītan
  4. Old Englishwrītan
  5. Old Englishwrītere
  6. Middle Englishwriter
  7. Englishwriter

From Middle English writer, writere, from Old English wrītere (“draughtsman; painter; writer; scribe; copyist”) and ġewritere (“writer; composer”), equivalent to write + -er. Cognate with Icelandic ritari (“clerk, secretary”), Faroese ritari (“clerk, secretary”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans skrywer
  • skrywerperson who writes; an author
Ancient Greek συγγραφεύς, γραφεύς
  • συγγραφεύς (sungrapheús)person who writes; an author
  • γραφεύς (grapheús)person who writes; an author
Arabic كَاتِب, كَاتِبَة
  • كَاتِب (kātib)person who writes; an author
  • كَاتِبَة (kātiba)person who writes; an author
  • مُؤَلِّف (muʔallif)person who writes; an author
  • مُؤَلِّفَة (muʔallifa)person who writes; an author
Basque idazle
  • idazleperson who writes; an author
Bengali লেখক
  • লেখক (lekhok)person who writes; an author
Bulgarian писа́тел, писа́телка
  • писа́тел (pisátel)person who writes; an author
  • писа́телка (pisátelka)person who writes; an author
  • а́втор (ávtor)person who writes; an author
  • а́вторка (ávtorka)person who writes; an author
Catalan escriptor, escriptora
  • escriptorperson who writes; an author
  • escriptoraperson who writes; an author
Chinese Cantonese 作家
  • 作家 (zok³ gaa¹)person who writes; an author
Chinese Mandarin 作家, 作者
  • 作家 (zuòjiā)person who writes; an author
  • 作者 (zuòzhě)person who writes; an author
  • 筆者 /笔者 (bǐzhě)person who writes; an author
Czech spisovatel, spisovatelka
  • spisovatelperson who writes; an author
  • spisovatelkaperson who writes; an author
  • autorperson who writes; an author
  • autorkaperson who writes; an author
Danish forfatter
  • forfatterperson who writes; an author
Dutch schrijver, schrijfster
  • schrijverperson who writes; an author
  • schrijfsterperson who writes; an author
  • auteurperson who writes; an author
Esperanto skribanto, skribisto
  • skribantoperson who writes; an author
  • skribistoperson who writes; an author
  • verkistoperson who writes; an author
Estonian kirjanik
  • kirjanikperson who writes; an author
Finnish kirjoittaja, kirjailija
  • kirjoittajaperson who writes; an author
  • kirjailijaperson who writes; an author
French écrivain, écrivaine
  • écrivainperson who writes; an author
  • écrivaineperson who writes; an author
  • auteurperson who writes; an author
  • autriceperson who writes; an author
  • auteureperson who writes; an author
German Schriftsteller, Schriftstellerin
  • Schriftstellerperson who writes; an author
  • Schriftstellerinperson who writes; an author
  • Autorperson who writes; an author
  • Autorinperson who writes; an author
  • Schreiberperson who writes; an author
  • Schreiberinperson who writes; an author
  • Verfasserperson who writes; an author
Greek συγγραφέας
  • συγγραφέας (syngraféas)person who writes; an author
Hebrew כּוֹתֵב, סוֹפֵר
  • כּוֹתֵב (kotév)person who writes; an author
  • סוֹפֵר (sofér)person who writes; an author
  • מְחַבֵּר (m'khabér)person who writes; an author
Hindi लेखक, लेखिका
  • लेखक (lekhak)person who writes; an author
  • लेखिका (lekhikā)person who writes; an author
  • साहित्यकार (sāhityakār)person who writes; an author
  • रचयिता (racyitā)person who writes; an author
Hungarian író, írónő
  • íróperson who writes; an author
  • írónőperson who writes; an author
Icelandic rithöfundur
  • rithöfundurperson who writes; an author
Indonesian penulis, pengarang
  • penulisperson who writes; an author
  • pengarangperson who writes; an author
Irish scríbhneoir
  • scríbhneoirperson who writes; an author
Italian scrittore, scrittrice
  • scrittoreperson who writes; an author
  • scrittriceperson who writes; an author
  • autoreperson who writes; an author
  • autriceperson who writes; an author
Japanese 著者, 作家
  • 著者 (chosha)person who writes; an author
  • 作家 (sakka)person who writes; an author
  • 筆者 (hissha)person who writes; an author
Korean 저자, 작가
  • 저자 (jeoja)person who writes; an author
  • 작가 (jakga)person who writes; an author
  • 필자 (pilja)person who writes; an author
  • 글쓴이 (geulsseuni)person who writes; an author
  • 작자 (jakja)person who writes; an author
Latin scriptor, scriptrix
  • scriptorperson who writes; an author
  • scriptrixperson who writes; an author
Latvian rakstnieks, rakstniece
  • rakstnieksperson who writes; an author
  • rakstnieceperson who writes; an author
  • autorsperson who writes; an author
  • autoreperson who writes; an author
Lithuanian rašytojas, rašytoja
  • rašytojasperson who writes; an author
  • rašytojaperson who writes; an author
  • autoriusperson who writes; an author
  • autorėperson who writes; an author
Malay penulis, pengarang
  • penulisperson who writes; an author
  • pengarangperson who writes; an author
  • mualifperson who writes; an author
  • katibperson who writes; an author
Māori kaituhi
  • kaituhiperson who writes; an author
Norwegian Bokmål forfatter, skribent
  • forfatterperson who writes; an author
  • skribentperson who writes; an author
Polish pisarz, pisarka
  • pisarzperson who writes; an author
  • pisarkaperson who writes; an author
  • autorperson who writes; an author
  • autorkaperson who writes; an author
Portuguese escritor, escritora
  • escritorperson who writes; an author
  • escritoraperson who writes; an author
Punjabi ਲੇਖਕ, ਲਿਖਾਰੀ
  • ਲੇਖਕ (lekhak)person who writes; an author
  • ਲਿਖਾਰੀ (likhārī)person who writes; an author
  • لِکھاری (likhārī)person who writes; an author
Romanian scriitor, scriitoare
  • scriitorperson who writes; an author
  • scriitoareperson who writes; an author
  • autor de cărțiperson who writes; an author
Russian писа́тель, писа́тельница
  • писа́тель (pisátelʹ)person who writes; an author
  • писа́тельница (pisátelʹnica)person who writes; an author
  • а́втор (ávtor)person who writes; an author
Scottish Gaelic sgrìobhadair, sgrìobhaiche
  • sgrìobhadairperson who writes; an author
  • sgrìobhaicheperson who writes; an author
Slovak spisovateľ, spisovateľka
  • spisovateľperson who writes; an author
  • spisovateľkaperson who writes; an author
  • autorperson who writes; an author
  • autorkaperson who writes; an author
Spanish escritor, escritora
  • escritorperson who writes; an author
  • escritoraperson who writes; an author
  • escriptorperson who writes; an author
  • escriptoraperson who writes; an author
Swahili mwandishi
  • mwandishiperson who writes; an author
Swedish skribent, författare
  • skribentperson who writes; an author
  • författareperson who writes; an author
  • skriftställareperson who writes; an author
Tagalog manunulat
  • manunulatperson who writes; an author
Thai นักเขียน, ผู้เขียน
  • นักเขียน (nák-kǐian)person who writes; an author
  • ผู้เขียน (pûu-kǐian)person who writes; an author
Turkish müellif, yazar
  • müellifperson who writes; an author
  • yazarperson who writes; an author
  • yazıcıperson who writes; an author
Ukrainian письме́нник, письме́нниця
  • письме́нник (pysʹménnyk)person who writes; an author
  • письме́нниця (pysʹménnycja)person who writes; an author
  • а́втор (ávtor)person who writes; an author
  • а́вторка (ávtorka)person who writes; an author
Urdu لیکَھک, مُصَنِّف
  • لیکَھک (lekhak)person who writes; an author
  • مُصَنِّف (musannif)person who writes; an author
  • نَوِیسَنْدَہ (navīsanda)person who writes; an author
Vietnamese nhà văn
  • nhà vănperson who writes; an author
Welsh ysgrifennwr
  • ysgrifennwrperson who writes; an author
Yiddish מחבר, מעכאַבער
  • מחבר (mekhaber)person who writes; an author
  • מעכאַבער (mekhaber)person who writes; an author
  • שרײַבער (shrayber)person who writes; an author
  • אויטאָר (oytor)person who writes; an author
  • פֿאַרפֿאַסער (farfaser)person who writes; an author
  • שריפֿטשטעלער (shriftshteler)person who writes; an author
  • וואָרטקינסטלער (vortkinstler)person who writes; an author
  • ליטעראַט (literat)person who writes; an author
  • פֿעדערניק (federnik)person who writes; an author

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with writer

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

righterrider (flapping but non-Canadian raising)

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

writer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/writer

MLA

“writer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/writer. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “writer,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/writer.

Source: writer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.