written
writ·ten/ˈɹɪ.tn̩/adjective, noun, verb
written is spelled W-R-I-T-T-E-N, 2 syllables: writ·ten. The wrong spelling people search most is writen: about 130 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 12 of all searches for the word. Written is an adjective meaning “Of, relating, or characteristic of writing (i.e., of that which has been written)”.
How many letters and syllables are in written?
| Letters | 7: W-R-I-T-T-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: writ·ten |
| In writing | 123 times per million words; the 851st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, writen, about 130 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell written?
Written is spelled W-R-I-T-T-E-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 12 of the searches for written in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is written?
Written appears 123 times per million words in written English, the 851st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce written?
- /ˈɹɪ.tn̩/
- [ˈɹɪʔt̚n̩]
- [ˈɹɪ.ʔn̩]
Written has 2 syllables, split writ·ten in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Pvanp7-written.wav, En-us-written.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of written
- writtens plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does written mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of, relating, or characteristic of writing (i.e., of that which has been written).
Written language is a way of representing spoken language.
- 2
Having been written.
I can speak Japanese fairly well, but I have no understanding whatsoever of written Japanese.
noun
- 1
A rap that was written in advance, as opposed to a freestyle.
verb
- 1
past participle of write
Has your girlfriend written you a letter yet?
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Written in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of, relating or characteristic of writing:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | écrit |
| German | geschrieben, schriftlich |
| Portuguese | escrito |
| Spanish | escrito, escripto (disused) |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does written come from?
Morphologically write + -en.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).