Literate

How to spell literate

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce literate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does literate mean?

1. adjectiveAble to read and write, or knowledgeable in a particular field.

Literate in a sentence

• The charity helps adults become fully literate later in life.

• Every new hire must be computer literate before starting the role.

Where does literate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin litteratus, meaning 'marked with letters' and then 'learned' or 'acquainted with books'. It was built on littera, the Latin word for a single letter of the alphabet, and the same root sits behind 'letter', 'literature', and 'literal'. English adopted it in the early 1400s to describe someone educated and able to read, a prized and fairly rare quality at the time. The sense narrowed over the centuries to the modern meaning of simply being able to read and write, and it later broadened again in compounds like 'computer literate'. The spelling keeps the double t of littera but compresses it to a single t in the English form, while the unstressed -ate ending sounds like a faint 'it', which is the small trap when writing it.

How the word is built

• liter- (from Latin littera: letter)
• -ate (adjective suffix)