Origin: Germanic Old English prefix
Overwrite has 3 different meanings across 1 category:
The operation of destroying older data by recording new data over it.
"The backup script will overwrite the old system files once it finishes copying the latest updates."
write new data on top of existing data and thus erase the previously existing data
"overwrite that file"
To destroy (older data) by recording new data over it.
"The technician warned that backing up without first making a copy would overwrite all our old project files."