wrītan
Old English had no separate everyday verb for drawing pictures. wrītan, whose first meaning was "to scratch, carve", was used for drawing a figure as well as for writing.
To paint or decorate with colour was mētan.
Meaning: to produce a picture (verb)
Which one should you use?
dragan means "to drag, pull". It is the ancestor of "draw" in the sense of pulling, not of drawing pictures.
How do you pronounce it?
WREE-tan, with the w pronounced
Did you know?
- Modern "write" comes from wrītan. Its oldest sense was scratching marks into wood or stone, the way runes were cut.
Examples in context
- Hē wrāt ān hors on þǣm stāne.He drew a horse on the stone.
