literatus

[ lit-uh-rah-tuh s, -rey- ]

/ ˌlɪt əˈrɑ təs, -ˈreɪ- /

noun

singular of literati.

Nearby words

literati

[ lit-uh-rah-tee ]

/ ˌlɪt əˈrɑ ti /

plural noun, singular lit·e·ra·tus [lit-uh-rah-tuh s,] /ˌlɪt əˈrɑ təs,/.

persons of scholarly or literary attainments; intellectuals.

Origin of literati

1615–25; < Latin līterāti learned, scholarly people, noun use of plural of līterātus. See literate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for literatus

The literatus who realized this had his own message in mind.
Drum Taps|Walt Whitman
The school of the literatus was much better than that of the literator, but it reached only a limited number of the Roman youth.
History of Education|Levi Seeley
Huc advolarunt tres viri, duo lanifices, literarum rudes, literatus tertius est.
History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, Volume III|J. H. Merle D'Aubign
This species is closely allied to the M. literatus of Brullé; but it differs too much, I think, to be identical with it.
Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3|Various

British Dictionary definitions for literatus

literati

/ (ˌlɪtəˈrɑːtiː) /

pl n

literary or scholarly people

Word Origin for literati

C17: from Latin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for literatus

literati

"men and women of letters; the learned class as a whole," 1620s, from Latin literati/litterati, plural of literatus/litteratus "lettered" (see literate). The proper singular would be literatus, though Italian literato (1704) sometimes is used.