literate

literate

English

Etymology

From Latin litteratus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtəɹət/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Adjective

literate (comparative more literate, superlative most literate)

1. Able to read and write; having literacy.

   Antonym: illiterate

   • 1997, Carlin, George, Brain Droppings‎, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, LCCN 96-52373, OCLC 36084460, OL 26335012M, page 86:

     Intelligence tests are biased toward the literate.

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) 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) 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) Kyrgyz: окумал (okumal), сабаттуу (sabattuu) 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) Swedish: läskunnig (sv) (able to read), skrivkunnig (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

Further reading

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

Anagrams

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