Litterate

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having learning and the ability to read and write, especially in an older or more formal sense of the word
2. Describing a person who is well read and lettered, having acquired knowledge through books and study
3. Possessing an education in letters, able to read and write and to speak with the learning of the educated

Etymology: "Litterate" is an older spelling of "literate", and for centuries the two forms existed side by side before the shorter one won out. The word came into Middle English from Latin "lītterātus", which meant "marked with letters" or "learned", built from "littera" ("letter") plus the suffix "-atus", the source of English "-ate". The same Latin base gave English a doublet, "literatus", which keeps closer to the Latin form and was used for a learned person of letters. Before "literate" arrived, English had its own word for the idea: "stæfwīs", literally "letter-wise" or knowing letters, from "stæf" (letter) and "wīs" (wise). The imported Latin term eventually displaced it entirely, so the native compound survives today only as a historical curiosity.

Synonyms: literate, lettered, learned

Antonyms: illiterate, unlettered