literate

English

Etymology

From Latin litteratus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtəɹət/

Adjective

literate (comparative more literate, superlative most literate)

1. Able to read and write; having literacy.

   Antonym: illiterate

2. Knowledgeable in literature, writing; literary; well-read.
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.

Derived terms

• computer literate

Related terms

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

Translations

able to read, having literacy

• Armenian: գրագետ (hy) (graget), տառաճանաչ (hy) (taṙačanačʿ)
• Bulgarian: грамотен (bg) (gramoten)
• Catalan: alfabet (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 識字的 (zh), 识字的 (zh) (shìzì de)

• Chukchi: кэԓигъюԓетыԓьын (kėḷigʺjuḷetyḷʹyn)
• Czech: gramotný
• French: alphabète (fr), lettré (fr)
• German: schriftkundig, schreibkundig, lese- und schreibkundig, des Lesens und Schreibens mächtig, alphabetisiert (de); (of cultures also) literal (de)
• Hindi: शिक्षित (hi) (śikṣit), पढ़ा लिखा (paṛhā likhā)
• Japanese: 読み書きができる (yomikaki ga dekiru)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: خوێندەوار‎ (xwêndewar)

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

  Cyrillic: писмен

  Roman: pismen (sh)

• Spanish: alfabetizado (es), (dated) letrado (es), (colloquial) alfabeto (es)
• Tagalog: nulat
• Turkish: okuryazar (tr)
• Welsh: llythrennog (cy)

knowledgeable in literature and writing

• Armenian: գրագետ (hy) (graget)
• Catalan: lletrat
• Chinese:

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

• French: lettré (fr)
• German: belesen (de), gebildet (de)
• Japanese: 博識の (はくしき, hakushiki no)
• 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

  Roman: 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.

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• laterite, litteræ, teretial

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Latin

Adjective

literāte

1. vocative masculine singular of literātus

References

• literate in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)