Other forms: rewritten, rewriting, rewrote, rewrites
To rewrite is to write something again in a different form. Rewrite the chapter, a complete rewrite, rewrite history.
It means producing a new version rather than correcting the old one, which is what separates rewriting from editing — writers are told that all writing is rewriting and mostly agree. As a noun a rewrite is the new version. Rewrite history means retelling the past to suit the present, which is always an accusation. Note the past is rewrote and the participle rewritten.
1verbrewriteTo write something again in a different form.
“My essay was too long, so I had to rewrite it in simpler words.”
2nounnewThe new version produced.
“The editor liked the rewrite much better than the first draft.”
rewrite is a writing again.
Proto-Indo-European
*wrey- — to rip, tear
Proto-Germanic
*wrītaną — to carve, write
Proto-West Germanic
*wrītan
Old English
wrītan
Middle English
writen
English
write
English, today
rewrite
From re- + write. write comes from Middle English writen, from Old English wrītan, from Proto-West Germanic wrītan, from Proto-Germanic wrītaną (“to carve, write”), from Proto-Indo-European wrey- (“to rip, tear”). Cognate with West Frisian write (“to wear by rubbing, rip, tear”), Dutch wrijten (“to argue, quarrel”), Middle Low German wrîten (“to scratch, draw, write”) (> Low German wrieten, rieten (“to tear, split”)), German reißen (“to tear, rip”), Norwegian rita (“to rough-sketch, carve, write”), Swedish rita (“to draw, design, delineate, model”), Icelandic rita (“to inscribe, sketch, write”), German ritzen (“to carve, scratch”), Proto-Slavic ryti (“to carve, engrave, dig”), Polish ryć (“to engrave, dig”), Czech rýt (“to engrave, dig”). See also rit and rat.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA