Where does “literate” come from?
Literate comes from Latin litteratus, derived from Latin littera, which traces to Ancient Greek διφθέρα and Proto-Indo-European -tós.
literate (English): Able to read and write; having literacy;...
Definitions
- Able to read and write; having literacy;...
Ancestry of “literate”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | litterate | — |
| 2 | Latin | litteratus | learned, educated, scholarly, literate; cultured,... |
| 3 | Latin | littera | a letter of the alphabet; handwriting; letter,... |
| 4 | Latin | lītera | — |
| 5 | Old Latin | leitera | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂leyH- | to smear |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | leyh₂- | to die, disapear; to avoid, elude, decline,... |