literatus

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

noun

singular of literati.

literati

[lit-uh-rah-tee]

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

Historical Examples of literatus

The literatus who realized this had his own message in mind.
Drum Taps
Walt Whitman
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
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

British Dictionary definitions for literatus

literati

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.