literate
English
Etymology
From Latin litteratus.
Pronunciation
Adjective
literate (comparative more literate, superlative most literate)
- Able to read and write; having literacy.
- Antonym: illiterate
- Knowledgeable in literature, writing; literary; well-read.
- 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.
- 2005, Nicholas Ostler, Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World, Harper:
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
able to read, having literacy
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knowledgeable in literature and writing
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Noun
literate (plural literates)
- A person who is able to read and write.
- (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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “literate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Latin
Adjective
(deprecated template usage) literāte
References
- literate in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)