Rewriting

How to spell rewriting

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce rewriting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rewriting mean?

1. verbWriting something again, usually to improve, correct, or change it.

Rewriting in a sentence

• She spent the weekend rewriting the final chapter of her report.

• The editor suggested rewriting the opening paragraph for clarity.

Where does rewriting come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound built from the prefix re-, borrowed from Latin where it meant 'again' or 'back', attached to the native English verb 'write'. 'Write' descends from the Old English writan, which originally meant 'to scratch, draw, or inscribe', a reminder of the days when letters were cut into bark, wood, or stone rather than penned. The related Old Norse rita and Old High German rizan share the same scratching sense, all pointing to a Germanic root about scoring marks on a surface. The combination with re- to mean 'write again' grew naturally in English, and the -ing ending forms the present participle and gerund. The spelling trap is purely modern and mechanical: the silent 'e' of 'write' is dropped before -ing, and the 't' stays single, so it is 'rewriting', not 'rewritting'.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• write (from Old English writan: to write)
• -ing (present participle/gerund suffix)