scholar

American  

[skol-er] / ˈskɒl ər /

noun

• scholars
  plural

1. a learned or erudite person, especially one who has profound knowledge of a particular subject.

   Synonyms:

   savant

2. a student; pupil.

3. a student who has been awarded a scholarship.

---

scholar British  

/ ˈskɒlə /

noun

1. a learned person, esp in the humanities

2. a person, esp a child, who studies; pupil

3. a student of merit at an educational establishment who receives financial aid, esp from an endowment given for such a purpose

4. a school pupil

---

Synonym Usage

See pupil ¹.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonscholar
  noun
• scholarliness
  noun
• nonscholarly
  adjective
• scholarless
  adjective
• scholarly
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• scholars
  plural

Etymology

Origin of scholar

First recorded before 1000; from Late Latin scholāris, equivalent to Latin schol(a) school ¹ + -āris -ar ¹; replacing Middle English scoler(e), Old English scolere, from Late Latin, as above

Explanation

Someone who learns is a scholar, though the word also means someone with a lot of knowledge in one subject. If you know a lot about books, you could be called a literary scholar. It doesn't take a Latin scholar to understand the word scholar. It probably reminds you of school, scholastic, and scholarship. That's because they all share the Latin root schola which means school. A scholar in the academic sense usually has his or her area of specialty in the humanities as opposed to the sciences.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scholar scholars

"We usually think of the brain as a closed system," said Julia Belk, a postdoctoral scholar in pathology at Stanford Medicine and first author on the new study.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

That may be one reason people are airing their frustrations on social media, according to Sara Collins, a senior scholar at the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation focused on healthcare policy.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

These are masterly works of literature, but they are not, pace Mr. Chandler and Ms. Volohova, an independent scholar of Grossman’s life and work, “two of the greatest novels of the last century.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

In the Bay Area, he became a visiting scholar at Stanford University and co-founded CrowdPac, a nonpartisan political fundraising platform.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

Strutting across the stage to accept the top scholar prize.

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

Even the entreaties of Islamic scholars and officials of Islamic countries the world over have not bent the iron will of the emir and his enforcers, especially on the most sensitive issue of education.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

We know that over the past half-century, more than 200 people have been exonerated after having been sentenced to die, and scholars estimate that 4 percent of those sentenced to death are innocent.

From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2026

Researchers believe historic parchment represents a largely unexplored source of information that could connect genetics with questions traditionally studied by historians, archaeologists, and other scholars.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026

While the Dalai Lama expressed sorrow and questioned the efficacy of such protests, some scholars criticized him for not trying to stop the practice.

From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026

So far, we’ve mostly helped with organizing packets that Mrs. Malloy mailed out, and we’ve started our young scholars class.

From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson

Related Words

• academic
• doctor
• intellectual
• philosopher
• professor
• scientist
• student
• teacher