literary

English

Etymology

From French littéraire.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtəɹəɹi/, /ˈlɪt(ə)ɹi/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtəɹɛ(ə)ɹi/, [ˈɫɪɾəɹɛ(ə)ɹi]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

literary (comparative more literary, superlative most literary)

1. Relating to literature.

   literary fame

   a literary history

   literary conversation

   • c. 1768, Samuel Johnson, Preface to the Plays of William Shakespeare:

     He has long outlived his century, the term commonly fixed as the test of literary merit.

2. Relating to writers, or the profession of literature.

   a literary man

   • 1775, William Mason, The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W. Mason. York:

     in the literary as well as fashionable world

3. Knowledgeable of literature or writing.
4. Appropriate to literature rather than everyday writing.
5. Bookish.

Synonyms

• bookly

Derived terms

• antiliterary
• cyberliterary
• extraliterary
• hyperliterary
• lego-literary
• literarily
• literariness
• literarist
• literary agent
• literary criticism
• literary device
• literary executor
• literary fiction
• literary form
• literary genre
• literary inquisition
• literaryism
• literary journalism
• literary language
• literary present
• literary science
• literary technique
• literary theory
• litRPG
• metaliterary
• nonliterary
• overliterary
• postliterary
• preliterary
• pseudoliterary
• subliterary
• technoliterary
• uniliterary
• unliterary

 

Related terms

• letter
• literacy
• literal
• literate
• literature

 

Translations

relating to literature

• Afrikaans: literêre, letterkundige
• Albanian: letrar (sq)
• Arabic: أَدَبِيّ (ʔadabiyy)
• Armenian: գրական (hy) (grakan)
• Asturian: lliterariu
• Azerbaijani: ədəbi
• Belarusian: літарату́рны (litaratúrny), кні́жны (knížny)
• Bulgarian: литерату́рен (literatúren)
• Catalan: literari (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 文學／文学 (zh) (wénxué), 文 (zh) (wén)

• Czech: literární (cs)
• Danish: litterær
• Dutch: literair (nl)
• Esperanto: literatura (eo)
• Estonian: kirjanduslik
• Finnish: kirjallinen (fi), kaunokirjallinen (fi)
• French: littéraire (fr)
• Galician: literario (gl)
• Georgian: ლიტერატურული (liṭeraṭuruli)
• German: literarisch (de), schriftstellerisch (de)
• Greek: λογοτεχνικός (el) (logotechnikós)
• Hindi: साहित्यिक (hi) (sāhityik)
• Hungarian: irodalmi (hu)
• Italian: letterario (it)
• Japanese: 文学の (ja) (ぶんがくの, bungaku no)
• Kazakh: әдеби (ädebi)
• Korean: 문학의 (ko) (munhag-ui)
• Kyrgyz: адабий (ky) (adabiy)
• Latin: litterārius
• Latvian: literārs
• Lithuanian: literatūros, literatūrinis
• Luxembourgish: literaresch
• Macedonian: литерату́рен (literatúren)
• Malay: sastera
• Malayalam: സാഹിത്യ (sāhitya)
• Norman: littéthaithe (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: litterær (no)

  Nynorsk: litterær

• Occitan: literari (oc)
• Persian: ادبی (fa) (adabi)
• Polish: literacki (pl)
• Portuguese: literário (pt)
• Romanian: literar (ro)
• Russian: литерату́рный (ru) (literatúrnyj), кни́жный (ru) (knížnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ли̏тера̄ран, књи̏же̄внӣ

  Roman: lȉterāran (sh), knjȉžēvnī (sh)

• Spanish: literario (es)
• Swedish: litterär (sv)
• Tagalog: pampanitikan
• Tajik: адабӣ (tg) (adabi)
• Tatar: әдәби (ädäbi)
• Turkish: edebî (tr)
• Turkmen: edebi
• Ukrainian: літерату́рний (uk) (literatúrnyj), книжко́вий (knyžkóvyj)
• Urdu: اَدَبی (adabī)
• Uyghur: ئەدەبىي (edebiy)
• Uzbek: adabiy (uz)
• Vietnamese: văn học (vi), văn chương (vi)
• Welsh: llenyddol (cy)
• Yiddish: ליטעראַריש (literarish)
• Zazaki: edebi

relating to writers, or the profession of literature

• Afrikaans: literêre, letterkundige
• Armenian: գրական (hy) (grakan)
• Danish: litterær
• Finnish: kirjailija- (fi), kirjallisuus- (fi), kirjallinen (fi)
• German: literarisch (de), schriftstellerisch (tätig)
• Greek: λογοτεχνικός (el) (logotechnikós)
• Hindi: साहित्यिक (hi) (sāhityik)
• Hungarian: írói (hu), irodalmi (hu)
• Lithuanian: rašytojų (lt)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: litterær (no)

  Nynorsk: litterær

• Polish: literacki (pl)
• Russian: писа́тельский (ru) (pisátelʹskij), литера́торский (ru) (literátorskij)
• Swedish: litterär (sv)
• Ukrainian: письме́ннецький (pysʹménnecʹkyj) (to writers), літера́торський (literátorsʹkyj) (to writers), писе́мницький (pysémnycʹkyj) (to literature)
• Welsh: llenyddol (cy)
• Yiddish: ליטעראַריש (literarish)

knowledgeable of literature or writing

• Finnish: kirjallisuutta tunteva

appropriate to literature rather than everyday writing

• Afrikaans: literêre
• Armenian: գրական (hy) (grakan)
• Bulgarian: литерату́рен (literatúren)
• Finnish: kirjakielinen (fi), kirjallinen (fi)
• German: gehoben (de)
• Greek: λογοτεχνικός (el) (logotechnikós)
• Hungarian: emelkedett (hu), választékos (hu)
• Japanese: 文学の (ja) (ぶんがくの, bungaku no)
• Korean: 문학의 (ko) (munhag-ui)
• Polish: książkowy (pl)
• Russian: кни́жный (ru) (knížnyj)
• Ukrainian: книжко́вий (knyžkóvyj)
• Uyghur: كىتاۋىي (kitawiy)
• Vietnamese: văn hoa

bookish — see bookish

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

• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} litterari

Further reading

• “literary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “literary”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• trilayer