literary

English

Etymology

From French littéraire.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

literary (comparative more literary, superlative most literary)

1. Relating to literature.
2. Relating to writers, or the profession of literature.
3. Knowledgeable of literature or writing.
4. Appropriate to literature rather than everyday writing.
5. Bookish.

Synonyms

• bookly

Derived terms

• literary criticism
• literary device
• literary form
• literary genre
• literary technique
• literary theory

Related terms

• letter
• literal
• literacy
• literate
• literature

Translations

relating to literature

• Arabic: الأدبية (ar) (aladbyh)
• Asturian: lliterariu (ast)
• Bulgarian: литературни (bg) (literaturni) 
• Catalan: literari (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 文学 (cmn) (wenxue)

• Czech: literární (cs)
• Danish: litterær (da)
• Dutch: literair (nl)
• Esperanto: literatura (eo)
• French: littéraire (fr)
• Galician: literario (gl)
• German: literarisch (de)
• Hungarian: irodalmi (hu)
• Italian: letterario (it)
• Japanese: 文学 (ja) (bungaku)

• Korean: 문학 (ko) (munhag)
• Latin: litterarius (la) m, litteraria (la) f, litterarium (la) n, litterarii (la) m pl, litterariae (la) f pl, litteraria (la) n pl
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: litterær (no)

  Nynorsk: litterær (nn)

• Occitan: literari (oc)
• Persian: ادبی (fa) (adabi)
• Polish: literacki m
• Portuguese: literário (pt)
• Romanian: literar (ro) m and n, literară (ro) f, literari (ro) m pl
• Russian: литературный (ru) (literatúrnyj) , книжный (ru) (knížnyj) 
• Spanish: literario (es)
• Turkish: edebî (tr)
• Ukrainian: літературний (uk) (literaturnyj) m 
• Urdu: ادبی (ur) (adba)

relating to writers, or the profession of literature

• Danish: litterær (da)
• German: literarisch (de)
• Hungarian: írói (hu), irodalmi (hu)
• Norwegian: :

  Bokmål: litterær (no)

  Nynorsk: litterær (nn)

• Polish: literacki m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Interlingua: litterari

External links

• literary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• literary in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• trilayer