literacy

English

Etymology

From literate + -cy.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtəɹəsi/, /ˈlɪtɹəsi/
(General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtəɹəsi/, [-ɾ(ə)ɹə-], /ˈlɪtɹəsi/
- Audio (California); [ˈlɪɾɪɹɪsi]: (file)
(General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtɹəsi/
(New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈlətəɹəsi/, [ˈləɾəɹəsi], /ˈlətɹəsi/
Hyphenation: li‧ter‧a‧cy

Noun

literacy (countable and uncountable, plural literacies)

The ability to read and write.
Coordinate term: reading comprehension
- 2025 September 8, “Himachal Pradesh becomes ‘fully literate State’. CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu says the literacy rate in Himachal reached 99.30%, which is higher than the national benchmark of 95% with the hill State ranking first in student-teacher ratio”, in The Hindu‎^[1]:
  Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday (September 8, 2025) declared Himachal as a “fully literate State” on the occasion of International Literary Day. […] Journey from 7% to 99.30%: The Chief Minister said Himachal Pradesh had reached this goal well before the scheduled timeframe, adding that the journey from minimal literacy rate of around 7% to full literacy had been full of challenges, yet the State had consistently moved forward with the aim of providing quality education. […] Mr. Sukhu said the literacy rate in Himachal Pradesh had reached 99.30%, which is higher than the national benchmark of 95% […] Union Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar, in a video message, congratulated Himachal Pradesh on this achievement and emphasised the importance of providing skill-based education to the newly literate.
(by extension) The ability to understand and evaluate something.
computer literacy

media literacy
- 2023 June 9, Tory Shepherd, “Can pornography be healthy? If it follows six rules, perhaps”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:
  Prof Alan McKee, who led the project, argues that young adults should be taught “porn literacy” to help them “read porn well” and look for healthy and ethical depictions of sex.
- 2025 November 13, Kamala Thiagarajan, “If you're going to be kind to another human, today is the day to do it!”, in NPR‎^[3]:
  Returning to the school years later, Diakabana discovered it was a school guard. She wanted to repay him. "He told me to help others when I could, so I launched a scholarship program," says Diakabana, who now lives in Switzerland and is co-founder of The Luminous Agency, which focuses on digital literacy.

Antonyms

illiteracy

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Portuguese: literacia

Translations

ability to read and write

Arabic: مَحْو الْأُمِّيَّة m (maḥw al-ʔummiyya)
Azerbaijani: savad (az)
Catalan: alfabetisme (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 認字 / 认字 (zh) (rènzì), 識字 / 识字 (zh) (shízì), 讀寫能力 / 读写能力 (zh) (dúxiě nénglì)
Czech: gramotnost f
Danish: læsefærdighed c, skrivefærdighed c
Dutch: alfabetisering (nl), alfabetisme (nl)
Finnish: luku- ja kirjoitustaito, lukutaito (fi)
French: littératie (fr), littérisme (fr), alphabétisme (fr) m
Galician: alfabetización (gl) f
Georgian: წერა-კითხვის უნარი (c̣era-ḳitxvis unari), წერა-კითხვის ცოდნა (c̣era-ḳitxvis codna), წერა-კითხვა (c̣era-ḳitxva)
German: Lese- und Schreibfähigkeit f
Greek: αλφαβητισμός (el) m (alfavitismós)
Hebrew: אוֹרְיָנוּת (he) f (oryanút)
Hindi: साक्षरता (hi) m (sākṣartā)
Hungarian: írástudás (hu)
Indonesian: literasi (id)
Irish: litearthacht f
Italian: alfabetismo (it) m, alfabetizzazione (it) f
Korean: 문해 (munhae)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: خوێندەواری (xwêndewarî)
Macedonian: писменост f (pismenost)
Malayalam: സാക്ഷരത (ml) (sākṣarata)
Persian:
Iranian Persian: باسوادی (bâsavâdi)
Polish: piśmienność f, alfabetyzm (pl) m
Portuguese: alfabetização (pt) f, alfabetismo m, letramento (pt) m, literacia (pt) f
Romanian: alfabetizare (ro) f, alfabetism n, instruire (ro) f, școlire (ro) f, știință de carte (ro) f
Russian: гра́мотность (ru) f (grámotnostʹ)
Scottish Gaelic: litearrachd f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: писменост f

Latin: pismenost (sh) f
Spanish: alfabetismo (es) m, alfabetización (es) f (literacy instruction)
Swedish: läskunnighet (sv) c (ability to read), skrivkunnighet (sv) c (ability to write), läs- och skrivkunnighet (sv) c (ability to read and write)
Tagalog: kanulatan
Telugu: అక్షరాస్యత (akṣarāsyata)
Thai: การรู้หนังสือ (th)
Turkish: okuryazarlık (tr), okuma yazma (tr)
Ukrainian: письме́нність (uk) f (pysʹménnistʹ), гра́мотність (uk) f (hrámotnistʹ)
Welsh: llythrennedd (cy) m
Yoruba: mọ̀-ọ́nkọ-mọ̀-ọ́nkà

understanding of something

Azerbaijani: savad (az)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 能力 (zh) (nénglì), 素養 / 素养 (zh) (sùyǎng)
Czech: gramotnost f
Finnish: lukutaito (fi)
French: compréhension (fr) f
Georgian: წიგნიერება (c̣igniereba), მწიგნობრობა (mc̣ignobroba), განათლებულობა (ganatlebuloba), გათვიცნობიერებულობა (gatvicnobierebuloba)
German: Kenntnisse (de) f pl, Bildung (de) f
Greek: γνώση (el) f (gnósi)
Hebrew: אוֹרְיָנוּת (he) f (oryanút)
Hindi: साक्षरता (hi) m (sākṣartā)
Indonesian: literasi (id)
Russian: гра́мотность (ru) f (grámotnostʹ)
Scottish Gaelic: litearrachd f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: писменост f

Latin: pismenost (sh) f
Spanish: cultura (es) f, competencia (es) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked