rewrite

Etymology

It is formed from English re- + write.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Earliest recorded meaning

To write back, to reply in writing: 1567, in Drant's translation of Horace's epistles, a sense found only in the mid-16th century.^[2][6][4][3]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, to write something again, especially in a different form, is recorded from 1603 in the revised OED,^[2] while Etymonline dates it by 1730 and the Shorter Oxford to the mid-18th century.^[3][6] In the 20th century newspapers made it a trade word: the noun, a rewritten text or the act of rewriting, is found from 1901,^[2][4] and a person or department that rewrites reporters' stories from 1918;^[2] Etymonline dates the rewrite man to 1901 and the noun to 1926.^[3] Sports writers' rewrite the record books dates from 1927.^[2] In linguistics Chomsky used the verb in 1955 for writing a phrase structure in an expanded form, whence rewrite rule (1960),^[2] and in computing it has meant writing data to a storage medium again since 1983.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1567 – to write in reply (obsolete).^[2][4]
• 1603 – to write again, especially in a different form.^[2]
• 1901 – noun, a rewritten text; the act of rewriting.^[2][4]
• 1918 – noun, a rewrite person or department at a newspaper.^[2]
• 1927 – rewrite the record books.^[2]
• 1955 – in linguistics, to rewrite a phrase structure.^[2]
• 1983 – in computing, to write data again.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To write something again, especially changing its words or form; to revise: He rewrote the ending three times.^[7][4][2]
2. In journalism, to put material sent in by reporters into a form fit for publication, or to adapt published material for another publication.^[4][2]
3. In computing, to write data to a storage medium again, or to restore data erased while being read.^[7][2]
4. (obsolete) To write in reply.^[2][4][6]

Noun

1. Something rewritten, such as a revised article or draft; the act of rewriting: The script needs a complete rewrite.^[7][4][2]
2. (chiefly US) A person or department at a newspaper that rewrites reporters' stories.^[2]

Word family

• rewriter
• rewriteman

Related words

• write
• rewritable

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins