Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A man of letters or erudition; in the plural, literary men in general; the literary class; learned people.
  • noun Among foreigners in China the term literati is applied to the scholars and learned men of the country generally, especially to those who have taken one or more degrees, but are not in office and not engaged in trade.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A learned man; a man acquainted with literature; -- chiefly used in the plural.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A learned person; one acquainted with literature.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin litteratus, literatus.

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Examples

  • A man of great culture and a noted literatus, Atticus had a hobby that eventually earned him a lot of money; he published the works of famous Roman authors from Catullus to Cicero and Caesar.

    Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007

  • A man of great culture and a noted literatus, Atticus had a hobby that eventually earned him a lot of money; he published the works of famous Roman authors from Catullus to Cicero and Caesar.

    Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007

  • Librarian and children's book literatus Elizabeth Bird reveals these gorgeous illustrations from what looks to be a gorgeous children's book.

    Archive 2007-01-01 Jeremiah McNichols 2007

  • His authority and wisdom being immediately established by such adjectives as "discerning" (discretus) and "lettered" (literatus), John claims that he has heard such accusations before, legitimizing a process already underway. 103 It is this combination of intellect and emotion, of learned law expert and mourning mother, of two responses gendered male and female, that, Matthew hints, led to the king's belief in the accusation and to the execution of nineteen Jews.

    A Tender Age: Cultural Anxieties over the Child in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries 2005

  • Librarian and children's book literatus Elizabeth Bird reveals these gorgeous illustrations from what looks to be a gorgeous children's book.

    Laura Ljungkvisk's "Follow the Line" Jeremiah McNichols 2007

  • After a time, Chen Shou was recommended as filially pious and incorrupt16 by a powerful admirer, the influential official and literatus

    Empresses and Consorts 1999

  • Page view page image: and similar works. 93 The famous second-century literatus Cai Yong seems to have been inspired by Ban's Precepts to write a similar work. 94

    Empresses and Consorts 1999

  • Ch ` i State sent an old literatus out to dig herbs in the Horse

    The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu 1959

  • On the following day the petty official found the old literatus on the shady side of the city-walls and pierced him.

    The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu 1959

  • Lord had private hatred for the old literatus and so purposely assaulted the old literatus and killed him.

    The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu 1959

Comments

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  • See also literati, plural form, used more commonly than the singular

    December 27, 2006

  • My muse is some days on hiatus

    Affecting my lit’rary status.

    In those trying times

    I recycle rhymes

    And bide as a passive literatus.

    August 23, 2018