CS Knowledge Base

From Middle English scrit, borrowed from Old French escrit, from Latin scriptum (something written), from scrībō (“write”).

• enPR: skrĭpt
• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada, General Australian, Scotland) IPA^(key): /skɹɪpt/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /skɹəpt/
• (India) IPA^(key): /skɾipʈ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪpt
• Hyphenation: script

script (countable and uncountable, plural scripts)

1. (countable) A writing; a written document.

   Synonyms: cursive, hand, handwriting, manuscript

2. Written characters; style of writing.

   Hyponyms: subscript, superscript

   • 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

     But the one [letter] in the unknown script and with a metropolitan post mark—could it be from some London Woman?

3. (typography) Type made in imitation of handwriting.

   Synonym: cursive

4. (countable, law) An original instrument or document.
6. (countable) The written document containing the dialogue and action for a drama; the text of a stage play, movie, or other performance. Especially, the final form used for the performance itself.

   Synonym: play

   Hyponyms: screenplay, teleplay, telescript, radioplay

7. (by extension) A series of events with a predefined order and outcome.
   • 2026 April 22, Jillian Sanders, “The Danger of Surrendering Your Financial Independence in a Relationship”, in TIME‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 April 2026:

     I was following a social script that teaches women to build lives around money they don’t fully understand.

8. (computing) A brief and simple program.

   I wrote a Python script to put all the files into the right format.

9. (computing) A file containing a list of user commands, allowing them to be invoked once to execute in sequence.

   Synonyms: batch file, macro, shell script

   Hyponyms: coffeescript, here-script, postscript

10. (psychology) Ellipsis of behavioral script, a sequence of actions in a given situation.
11. (linguistics) A system of writing adapted to a particular language or set of languages.

    Synonyms: language script, writing system

12. (informal) Clipping of prescription (for drugs or medicine).
    • 1977 [1953], William S. Burroughs, edited by Allen Ginsberg, Junky, Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 20:

      He located a doctor in Brooklyn who was a writing fool. This croaker would go three scripts a day for as high as thirty tablets a script.

    • 2014, “Don't Play”, performed by Travis Scott ft. Big Sean and The 1975:

      Shit, he got the scripts for the cough / In the H, gotta hit Johnny for the frost, swerved off

    • 2020, Emily Segal, Mercury Retrograde, New York: Deluge Books, →ISBN:

      She gave me a Bipolar II diagnosis and a script for epilepsy medicine that could be used off-label in cases like mine.

• scripture

script (third-person singular simple present scripts, present participle scripting, simple past and past participle scripted)

1. (transitive) To make or write a script.
2. (transitive) To devise, concoct, or contrive.
   • 2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 31, number 4, →DOI, page 487:

     Such hedging is necessitated by the lack of in-depth knowledge of the contents, which also gives free rein to the scripting of unsubstantiated factoids concerning the book.

• script out

• “script”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “script n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present.

• crispt

Borrowed from English script.

• IPA^(key): /skrɪpt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: script
• Rhymes: -ɪpt

script n (plural scripts, diminutive scriptje n or (Netherlands, informal) scrippie n)

1. (art) script (written text of a dramatic performance)

   Coordinate term: scenario

2. (computing) script (sequential list of commands)

Borrowed from English script. Doublet of écrit.

• IPA^(key): /skʁipt/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

script m (plural scripts)

1. script (written dialogue for a play, film, etc.)

• “script”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• szkript

Unadapted borrowing from English script.

• IPA^(key): [ˈskript] (phonetic respelling: szkript)
• Hyphenation: script

script (plural scriptek)

1. (computing) script

• skript

Borrowed from English scripts, from Middle English scrit, Old French escrit, and ultimately Latin scriptum (“something written”).

• IPA^(key): /skrɪpt/

script n (definite singular scriptet, indefinite plural script, definite plural scripta or scriptene)

1. (computing) a script (list of commands)
2. (colloquial, cinematography) a script (written document containing dialogue)

script m (definite singular scripten, indefinite plural scripter, definite plural scriptene)

1. (cinematography) a script supervisor

• scripte

• “script” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “script” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

• skript

Borrowed from English script, from Middle English scrit, Old French escrit, and ultimately Latin scriptum (“something written”).

• IPA^(key): /skrɪpt/

script n (definite singular scriptet, indefinite plural script, definite plural scripta)

1. (computing) a script (list of commands)
2. (colloquial, cinematography) a script (written document containing dialogue)

script m (definite singular scripten, indefinite plural scriptar, definite plural scriptane)

1. (cinematography) a script supervisor

• scripte

• “script” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “script”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016

Unadapted borrowing from English script. Doublet of escrito.

script m (plural scripts)

1. (acting) script (text of the dialogue and action for a drama)

   Synonym: roteiro

2. (computing) script (source code that is interpreted rather than compiled)

• escrito

• “script”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “script”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Initially inherited from Latin scriptum as the past participle of scrie, which was later replaced by scris. The current meaning is borrowed from English script.

script n (plural scripturi)

1. script (of a film, play, show, etc.)

   Synonym: scenariu

• scriptic

• IPA^(key): /esˈkɾibt/ [esˈkɾiβ̞t̪], /esˈkɾip/ [esˈkɾip]
  • Rhymes: -ibt, -ip
• IPA^(key): /ˈskɾibt/ [ˈskɾiβ̞t̪], /ˈskɾip/ [ˈskɾip]
  • Rhymes: -ibt, -ip
• Syllabification: script

script m or f by sense (plural scripts)

1. (cinematography) script supervisor

   Synonym: script-girl f (Spain)

script m (plural scripts)

1. script (“document containing dialogue and action”)

• “script”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “script”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA
• “script”, in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas [Panhispanic Dictionary of Uncertainties] (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Royal Spanish Academy; Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, 2023, →ISBN
• «guion», «libreto» o «argumento» mejor que «script» | FundéuRAEFundéuRAE