literate

English

Etymology

From Middle English litterate, from Latin litterātus.

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.

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

     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.

Derived terms

• aliterate
• antiliterate
• biliterate
• 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
• literal
• literacy
• 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
• 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: 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

  Roman: pismen (sh)

• Spanish: alfabetizado (es), (dated) letrado (es), (colloquial) 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)

• French: lettré (fr)
• German: belesen (de), gebildet (de)
• 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

  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.

Translations

one who can read

• Dutch: alfabeet m or f
• Ingrian: kirjamees

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

• laterite, teretial

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 with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)