literate

English

Alternative forms

• litterate (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English litterate, borrowed from Latin lītterātus, līterātus, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix). Doublet of literato and literatus.

Displaced native Old English stæfwīs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtəɹət/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

literate (comparative more literate, superlative most literate)

1. Able to read and write; having literacy.

   Antonym: illiterate

   • 1997, George Carlin, Brain Droppings‎^[1], New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 86:

     Intelligence tests are biased toward the literate.

   • 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^[2]:

     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.

2. Knowledgeable in literature, writing; literary; well-read.
   • 2008 January 7, Charles Hugh Smith, Can a Fragmented Culture Find Common Ground?‎^[3]:

     The reason literature plays a unique role in any literate culture is its longevity.

3. Which is used in writing (of a language or dialect).
   • 2005, Nicholas Ostler, Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World, Harper:

     The Mongol emperor Kublai Khan even commissioned an alphabetic script for his empire, to be used officially for all its literate languages, Mongolian, Chinese, Turkic and Persian.

4. (by extension) Able to understand and evaluate something.
   • 2026 April 22, Jillian Sanders, “The Danger of Surrendering Your Financial Independence in a Relationship”, in TIME‎^[4], archived from the original on 22 April 2026:

     I don’t have a college degree. I was never a standout student. And yet, I became financially literate—not just in my personal life, but in running a small company.

Derived terms

• aliterate
• antiliterate
• biliterate
• carbon-literate
• cineliterate
• computerate
• computer literate
• cyberliterate
• ecoliterate
• e-literate
• food-literate
• graphicate
• hyperliterate
• literately
• literateness
• literate programming
• literatesque
• literatize
• metaliterate
• monoliterate
• multiliterate
• nonliterate
• pluriliterate
• postliterate
• preliterate
• protoliterate
• quasiliterate
• semiliterate
• subliterate
• superliterate
• technoliterate
• triliterate
• unliterate

Related terms

• illiterate
• letter
• literacy
• literal
• literary
• literature

Translations

able to read, having literacy

• Armenian: գրագետ (hy) (graget), տառաճանաչ (hy) (taṙačanačʻ)
• Azerbaijani: savadlı (az)
• Bulgarian: грамотен (bg) (gramoten)
• Catalan: alfabet (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 識字的 / 识字的 (zh) (shìzì de)

• Chukchi: кэԓигъюԓетыԓьын (kėḷigʺjuḷetyḷʹyn)
• Czech: gramotný
• Dutch: geletterd (nl)
• Finnish: lukutaitoinen (fi)
• French: alphabète (fr), lettré (fr)
• Georgian: წერა-კითხვის მცოდნე (c̣era-ḳitxvis mcodne)
• German: schriftkundig, schreibkundig, lese- und schreibkundig, des Lesens und Schreibens mächtig, alphabetisiert (de); (of cultures also) literal (de)
• Hindi: साक्षर (hi) (sākṣar), शिक्षित (hi) (śikṣit), पढ़ा लिखा (paṛhā likhā)
• Japanese: 読み書きができる (ja) (yomikaki ga dekiru)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: خوێندەوار (ckb) (xwêndewar)

• Kyrgyz: окумал (okumal), сабаттуу (sabattuu)
• Old English: stæfwīs
• Polish: piśmienny (pl)
• Portuguese: letrado (pt), alfabetizado (pt)
• Russian: гра́мотный (ru) (grámotnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: litearra
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: писмен

  Latin: pismen (sh)

• Spanish: alfabetizado (es), letrado (es), alfabeto (es)
• Swedish: läskunnig (sv) (able to read), skrivkunnig (sv) (able to write), läs- och skrivkunnig (able to read and write)
• Tagalog: nulat
• Turkish: okuryazar (tr)
• Ukrainian: гра́мотний (hrámotnyj), письме́нний (pysʹménnyj)
• Welsh: llythrennog (cy)

knowledgeable in literature and writing

• Armenian: գրագետ (hy) (graget)
• Azerbaijani: mütaliəli
• Catalan: lletrat (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有文化的 (yǒu wénhuà de), 博識 / 博识 (zh) (bóshì)

• Dutch: belezen (nl)
• Finnish: lukenut (fi), oppinut (fi)
• French: lettré (fr)
• German: belesen (de), gebildet (de)
• Hindi: शिक्षित (hi) (śikṣit)
• Japanese: 博識の (ja) (はくしき, hakushiki no)
• Occitan: letrat (oc)
• Old English: stæfwīs
• Polish: oczytany (pl)
• Portuguese: letrado (pt)
• Russian: образо́ванный (ru) (obrazóvannyj) (educated), начи́танный (ru) (načítannyj) (well-read)
• Scottish Gaelic: litearra
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: начитан, учен

  Latin: načitan (sh), učen (sh)

• Spanish: letrado (es)
• Swedish: beläst (sv)

Noun

literate (plural literates)

1. A person who is able to read and write.
2. (historical) A person who was educated but had not taken a university degree; especially a candidate to take holy orders.

Translations

one who can read

• Dutch: alfabeet (nl) m or f
• Finnish: lukutaitoinen (fi)
• Ingrian: kirjamees
• Spanish: alfabetizado (es) m, alfabeto (es) m, persona letrada f

Further reading

• “literate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “literate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• laterite, teretial

Latin

Adjective

līterāte

1. vocative masculine singular of līterātus

References

• "literate", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)