wordsmithing: why is playwright not playwrite?

[onenote]

n/t

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Just like a shipwright is a guy who builds ships...

...a playwright is a guy who builds plays, I guess.:shrug:

[miss_kitty]

2. because 'wright' denotes a person skilled at a craft

http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/wright

\Wright\, n. wyrcean to work. 145. See {Work}.]
One who is engaged in a mechanical or manufacturing business;
an artificer; a workman; a manufacturer; a mechanic; esp., a
worker in wood; -- now chiefly used in compounds, as in
millwright, wheelwright, etc.

[Left Is Write]

3. Because it refers to a profession of a certain type.

Like wheelwright and wainwright.

A wainwright constructs a wagon. A playwright constructs a play.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. same as shipwright, wheelwright, wainwright

[liberalhistorian]

5. Because it wouldn't

be the "write" choice? :evilgrin: