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Added 8 October 2026

read

/ɹiːd/ verb

In Latin: legō Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about read at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To look at and interpret letters or other information that is written.
Have you read this book?
To be understood or physically read in a specific way.
Arabic reads right to left.
To read a work or works written by the named author.
At the moment I'm reading Milton.

noun

A reading or an act of reading, especially of an actor's part of a play or a piece of stored data.
I had a read of the evening papers.
Something to be read; a written work.
His thrillers are always a gripping read.
A person's interpretation or impression of something.
What's your read of the current political situation?

verb

simple past and past participle of read

Origin

From Middle English reden, from Old English rǣdan (“to counsel, advise, consult; interpret, read”), from Proto-West Germanic *rādan, from Proto-Germanic *rēdaną (“advise, counsel”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₁dʰ- (“to arrange”). Cognate with Scots rede, red (“to advise, counsel, decipher, read”), Saterland Frisian räide (“to advise, counsel”), West Frisian riede (“to advise, counsel”), Dutch raden (“to advise; guess”), German raten (“to advise; guess”), Danish råde (“to advise”), Swedish råda (“to advise, counsel”), Persian رده (rade, “to order, to arrange, class”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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