playwright

Etymology

It is a compound from English play + wright,^[2][3][4][5] wright being an obsolete word for a maker.^[6] The OED compares the earlier playmaker.^[2] Wright is from Old English wrihta (“worker”), from wyrcan (“to work”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An author of plays: 1605, in a commendatory poem printed in Ben Jonson's Sejanus.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The revised OED moved the first record back to 1605;^[2] OED 1989 began with 1687,^[2][7] and Etymonline and Dictionary.com date the ordinary use to the 1680s, noting that Ben Jonson used it in the 1610s as a mock-name.^[3][8] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate gives 1616.^[6] OED 1989 defined it as a professional maker of plays, and the Shorter Oxford still notes "especially a professional one".^[7][5] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "a maker of plays", quoting Pope.^[9] The spelling playwrite, after write, is also found, and the OED compares playwrighting and playwriting.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds the sense of someone who adapts material for stage, radio, television or film.^[4]

Timeline

• 1605 – an author of plays.^[2][4]
• 1610s – used by Ben Jonson as a mock-name.^[3]
• 1680s – in general use for a writer of plays.^[3][8]
• 1755 – Johnson: a maker of plays.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who writes plays; a dramatist: The playwright attended every rehearsal of her new comedy.^[10][4][2]
2. A person who adapts material for the stage, radio, television or film.^[4]

Related words

• wright
• wheelwright
• work
• playwriting

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins