Scholarly

How to spell scholarly

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce scholarly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does scholarly mean?

1. adjectiveMarked by, suited to, or showing serious academic learning and careful study.

Scholarly in a sentence

• Her scholarly article was cited in dozens of later papers.

• The museum keeps a scholarly archive that researchers consult daily.

Where does scholarly come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word scholarly is built on scholar, which came into English through Old English and Old French from the Latin scholaris, meaning 'belonging to a school'. That Latin word rested on schola, the word for a place of learning, which itself was borrowed from the Greek skhole. The Greek root is a delightful surprise, because skhole originally meant 'leisure' or 'spare time', the free hours in which an educated person could pursue study and discussion rather than work. Over the centuries that idea of leisured study narrowed to the formal place where teaching happened, giving us 'school' as well as 'scholar'. The adjective scholarly, formed by adding the native English suffix -ly, appeared in the 1600s to describe a person, manner, or work marked by deep learning and careful study. The single l in scholar (not 'scholler') and the silent gap between the c and h are the spots that trip writers up.

How the word is built

• scholar (a learned person, from Latin schola: school)
• -ly (adjective suffix: having the quality of)