literatura

See also: literatúra, literatūra, literatūrā, literatură, literaturą, literatūrą, and łiteratura

Aragonese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin litterātūra (“grammar; philology”), from littera (“letter”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liteɾaˈtuɾa/
• Syllabification: li‧te‧ra‧tu‧ra
• Rhymes: -uɾa

Noun

literatura f

1. literature

References

• “literatura”, in Aragonario, diccionario castellano–aragonés (in Spanish)

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin litterātūra (“grammar; philology”), from littera (“letter”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [li.tə.ɾəˈtu.ɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [li.te.ɾaˈtu.ɾa]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uɾa

Noun

literatura f (plural literatures)

1. literature

Related terms

• literari

Further reading

• “literatura”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
• “literatura”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “literatura” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “literatura” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin litterātūra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɪtɛratura]

Noun

literatura f

1. literature

   Synonyms: písemnictví, slovesnost

2. bibliography (section of a written work)

Declension

Declension of literatura (hard feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	literatura	literatury
genitive	literatury	literatur
dative	literatuře	literaturám
accusative	literaturu	literatury
vocative	literaturo	literatury
locative	literatuře	literaturách
instrumental	literaturou	literaturami

Derived terms

• literární

Related terms

• literát m

Further reading

• “literatura”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “literatura”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “literatura”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Esperanto

Etymology

From Latin litterātūra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /literaˈtura/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ura
• Hyphenation: li‧te‧ra‧tu‧ra

Adjective

literatura (accusative singular literaturan, plural literaturaj, accusative plural literaturajn)

1. literary

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin litterātūra.

Noun

literatura f

1. literature

Declension

Declension of literatura

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	literatura	literaturje	literatury
Genitive	literatury	literaturowu	literaturow
Dative	literaturje	literaturoma	literaturam
Accusative	literaturu	literaturje	literatury
Instrumental	literaturu	literaturoma	literaturami
Locative	literaturje	literaturoma	literaturach

Further reading

• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “literatura”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin litterātūra. First attested in 1754. Compare Silesian literatura.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /li.tɛ.raˈtu.ra/

• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /li.tɛ.raˈtu.ra/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ura
• Syllabification: li‧te‧ra‧tu‧ra

Noun

literatura f (abbreviation lit.)

1. literature (body of all written works)
2. literature (all papers, treatises, etc.)
3. (education) literature (study of written works)
4. literature (all the papers, treatises etc. published in academic journals on a particular subject)
5. (obsolete) stylistics

   Synonym: stylistyka

6. (obsolete) philology

   Synonym: filologia

7. (obsolete) large amount of text to read

Declension

Declension of literatura

	singular	plural
nominative	literatura	literatury
genitive	literatury	literatur
dative	literaturze	literaturom
accusative	literaturę	literatury
instrumental	literaturą	literaturami
locative	literaturze	literaturach
vocative	literaturo	literatury

Derived terms

nouns

• antyliteratura
• literatura faktu
• literatura piękna
• literatura podmiotu
• literatura przedmiotu

Related terms

adjectives

• aliteracki
• literacki
• literalny
• literniczy

adverbs

• literacko
• literalnie

nouns

• litera
• literacina
• literat
• literatka
• literka
• liternictwo
• liternik
• literowiec
• literówka

verbs

• literować
• przeliterować
• przeliterowywać

Descendants

• → Kashubian: lëteratura

Further reading

• literatura in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• literatura in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• literatura in PWN's encyclopedia
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “literatura”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “literatura”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1902), “literatura”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 2, Warsaw, page 753
• Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “literatura”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin litterātūra (“grammar; philology”), from littera (“letter”). Doublet of letradura.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /li.te.ɾaˈtu.ɾɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /li.te.ɾaˈtu.ɾɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /li.te.ɾaˈtu.ɾa/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /li.tɨ.ɾɐˈtu.ɾɐ/

• Audio (Brazil):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uɾɐ
• Hyphenation: li‧te‧ra‧tu‧ra

Noun

literatura f (plural literaturas)

1. literature (a body of written works collectively)

   Synonym: (obsolete) letradura

   1. (literature, loosely) literature (the body of all written works)
   2. (literature) literature (the body of written works from a given culture, nation or era)
   3. (literature) literature (written material considered historically important or artistically superior)
   4. (sciences) literature (scholarly works on a particular subject)

      Synonym: bibliografia

2. (literature) literature (the study of written works for their artistic quality)
3. (literature, loosely) literature (bodies of written and oral text)

Alternative forms

• litteratura (obsolete)

Derived terms

• literatura de cordel
• literatura oral
• literatura popular

Related terms

• letra
• letrado
• literal
• literário
• literatice
• literato

Further reading

• “literatura”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “literatura”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2025
• “literatura” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “literatura”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “literatura”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “literatura”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin litterātūra.

Noun

literatúra f (Cyrillic spelling литерату́ра)

1. literature

Declension

Declension of literatura

	singular	plural
nominative	literatura	literature
genitive	literature	literatura
dative	literaturi	literaturama
accusative	literaturu	literature
vocative	literaturo	literature
locative	literaturi	literaturama
instrumental	literaturom	literaturama

Silesian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Literatur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li.tɛ.raˈtu.ra/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ura
• Syllabification: li‧te‧ra‧tu‧ra

Noun

literatura f

1. literature (the body of all written works)

Further reading

• Henryk Jaroszewicz (2022) “literatura”, in Zasady pisowni języka śląskiego (in Polish), Siedlce: Wydawnictwo Naukowe IKR[i]BL, page 93
• Aleksandra Wencel (2023) “literatura”, in Dykcjůnôrz ślų̊sko-polski, page 374

Slovene

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin litterātūra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /litɛratúːra/

Noun

literatȗra f

1. literature (body of all written works)

Declension

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Feminine, a-stem
nom. sing.	literatúra
gen. sing.	literatúre
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	literatúra	literatúri	literatúre
genitive (rodȋlnik)	literatúre	literatúr	literatúr
dative (dajȃlnik)	literatúri	literatúrama	literatúram
accusative (tožȋlnik)	literatúro	literatúri	literatúre
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	literatúri	literatúrah	literatúrah
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	literatúro	literatúrama	literatúrami

Spanish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin litterātūra (“grammar; philology”), from littera (“letter”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liteɾaˈtuɾa/ [li.t̪e.ɾaˈt̪u.ɾa]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uɾa
• Syllabification: li‧te‧ra‧tu‧ra

Noun

literatura f (plural literaturas)

1. literature

Derived terms

• literaturizar
• metaliteratura

Related terms

• letra
• letrado
• literario

Further reading

• “literatura”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish literatura, from Latin litterātūra.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /liteɾaˈtuɾa/ [lɪ.t̪ɛ.ɾɐˈt̪uː.ɾɐ]
• Rhymes: -uɾa
• Syllabification: li‧te‧ra‧tu‧ra

Noun

literatura (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜒᜆᜒᜇᜆᜓᜇ)

1. literature

   Synonym: panitikan

Related terms

• literaryo
• literato

Upper Sorbian

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin litterātūra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /litɛʀaˈtuʀa/
• Rhymes: -uʀa
• Hyphenation: li‧te‧ra‧tu‧ra
• Syllabification: li‧te‧ra‧tu‧ra

Noun

literatura f

1. literature (art of composing works in which language is used aesthetically, seeking to produce emotions in the recipient)

Declension

Declension of literatura (feminine hard stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	literatura	literaturje	literatury
genitive	literatury	literaturow	literaturow
dative	literaturje	literaturomaj	literaturam
accusative	literaturu	literaturje	literatury
instrumental	literaturu	literaturomaj	literaturami
locative	literaturje	literaturomaj	literaturach
vocative	literatura	literaturje	literatury

References

• “literatura” in Soblex