Wrote

Wrote is the simple past tense of the verb to write. It describes the act of composing text in the past. The corresponding past participle form is written, which is used with have, has, or had, and in passive constructions.

The verb originates in Old English writan, meaning to scratch or inscribe, with cognates in other Germanic languages such as Dutch schrijven and German schreiben. The Middle English past tense took the form wrote, a development that left wrote as the irregular past tense in modern English.

Usage wise, wrote is transitive and takes a direct object that names what was created, as in “She wrote a letter” or “They wrote a novel.” It covers a broad range of writing activities, from letters and books to articles, poems, emails, and even computer code. Wrote may appear in narrative contexts or in reported speech when describing actions completed in the past.

Grammatical notes: wrote is a strong verb; its past participle is written. In present perfect constructions you say “has written” or “have written.” The related noun writ denotes a written document, though it is archaic in everyday usage, while writer refers to a person who writes and writing to the act or process of composing text.

See also: write, writing, written, writer.