literature
UK /ˈlɪt.(ə.)ɹə.t͡ʃə(ɹ)/ · US /ˈlɪt.ɚ.ə.t͡ʃɚ/ noun
Forms literatures lit. literatuer
- noun The body of all written works.
- noun The collected creative writing of a nation, people, group, or culture. “He’s studying English literature at university.”
- noun (usually preceded by the) All the papers, treatises, etc. published in academic journals on a particular subject.
- noun Written fiction of a high standard.
- noun (obsolete) Literacy; ability to read and write.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English literature, from Old French littérature, from Latin literatura or litteratura, from littera (“letter”), from Etruscan, from Ancient Greek διφθέρᾱ (diphthérā, “tablet”). Displaced native Old English bōccræft, literally "book + -craft", see Modern English bookcraft.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Learning; acquaintance with letters or books.
- noun The collective body of literary productions, embracing the entire results of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing; also, the whole body of literary productions or writings upon a given subject, or in reference to a particular science or branch of knowledge, or of a given country or period; as, the literature of Biblical criticism; the literature of chemistry.
Etymology [F. littérature, L. litteratura, literatura, learning, grammar, writing, fr.littera, litera, letter. See Letter.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “literature”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details