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

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

USC media scholar Henry Jenkins, co-author of the “Frames of Fandom” book series, said devotees arriving in search of a “Star Wars” museum must be made to feel welcome.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

We don’t need to panic,’ ” said Erica Downs, a scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

As a scholar of conspiracy theories and extremism, I’ve watched QAnon seep from the margins into mainstream American politics over the past decade.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

But one scholar had a more offense-oriented idea.

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026

Werfel heard the scholar slide a chair under the knob.

From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin

There’s an assumption that the second half is Shakespeare’s, but scholars continue to quarrel over attribution.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026

However, experts have questioned the artwork's provenance, with some scholars attributing it to Giacomo Ceruti - another Italian artist from the same period.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

The New York Times reports this week that scholars who specialize in machine consciousness have been receiving outreach from AIs to discuss the subject.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Historically, pandemics have happened multiple times a century, and many scholars believe that they’ll become more frequent due to climate change and deforestation.

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026

For the most part, scholars in recent years have been reluctant to adopt the term ‘the Scientific Revolution’, and many have explicitly rejected it.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

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