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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

"Binding government-to-government agreements on specific standards may be difficult to achieve in the short term," Zilan Qian, research scholar at GovAI, told AFP.

From Barron's ● Nov. 14, 2026

Abraha Hailezgi, a scholar at Mekelle University, agrees.

From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2026

Jaden Suh, a former Caltech postdoctoral scholar who is now an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin, was moved to tears as the spacecraft carrying his team's work headed into orbit.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 9, 2026

“People are essentially buying down their coverage because they’re faced with these big premium increases,” said Sara Collins, a senior scholar at the Commonwealth Fund.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026

But the Library of Congress sent Dr. Julia Chen, a scholar who spoke Mandarin, to Elizebeth.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

The European Commission has urged progress on resolving the judicial impasse, while legal scholars, civil-society groups and political leaders continue to advocate reforms aimed at strengthening judicial independence.

From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026

An unmarried medievalist steeped in the supernatural, James created tales of bachelor scholars whose thirst for the unknown awakens malevolent forces.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

He holds a call every Friday with his research group that includes Caltech postdoctoral scholars and researchers in the U.S.,

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

Some progressive tax scholars say the most effective such tax would occur at the federal level.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

Some scholars believe that his great revelation about faith came to him when he was sitting on the privy.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

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Related Words

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

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