Draw

How to spell draw

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce draw

What does draw mean?

1. verbTo produce a picture or diagram by making lines and marks with a pen, pencil, or similar tool.
2. verbTo pull something in a particular direction, or to take something out from where it is held.
3. nounA game or contest that ends with neither side winning because the scores are equal.

Draw in a sentence

• verb

  The architect can draw the floor plan by hand before using software.

• verb

  Please draw the curtains before the film starts.

• noun

  The match ended in a goalless draw after extra time.

• verb

  Children love to draw animals and houses in their notebooks.

• verb

  The nurse will draw a small sample of blood for the test.

• noun

  A draw means both teams take one point each.

Where does draw come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Draw comes from the Old English verb dragan, which meant to pull, to drag, or to haul something along. It belongs to a wide Germanic family, sharing an ancestor with the modern word 'drag' and with Old Norse draga, all carrying that same core idea of pulling. Over the centuries the everyday sense of pulling broadened in surprising directions: to draw a sword was to pull it from its sheath, to draw water was to pull it from a well, and to draw a picture was originally to pull a pen or pencil across a surface, which is how the artistic meaning grew. The spelling settled with the 'aw' ending that reflects the long vowel, while the silent history of the old 'g' in dragan faded away. Because it is such an ancient native word, draw has stayed short and irregular, giving us the past tense 'drew' rather than a regular 'drawed'.

How the word is built

• draw (single Old English root meaning to pull or drag; no affixes)