literature

See also: łiterature

English

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Alternative forms

• literatuer (obsolete)

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪ.tə.ɹə.t͡ʃə(ɹ)/, /ˈlɪ.tɹə.t͡ʃə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪ.tɚ.ɪ.t͡ʃɚ/, /ˈlɪ.tɚ.ə.t͡ʃɚ/, /ˈlɪ.t͡ʃɹə.t͡ʃɚ/, /ˈlɪ.tɚ.t͡ʃɚ/

• Audio

  (file)

• (Midwestern US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪ.tə.t͡ʃɚ/

Noun

literature (usually uncountable, plural literatures)

1. The body of all written works.
2. The collected creative writing of a nation, people, group, or culture.
3. (usually preceded by the) All the papers, treatises, etc. published in academic journals on a particular subject.
   • 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 373:

     The obvious question to ask at this point is: ‘Why posit the existence of a set of Thematic Relations (THEME, AGENT, INSTRUMENT, etc.) distinct from constituent structure relations?ʼ The answer given in the relevant literature is that a variety of linguistic phenomena can be accounted for in a more principled way in terms of Thematic Functions than in terms of constituent structure relations.

   • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎^[1], page 3:

     In fact, information on when each of the terms first appeared in English, and if obsolete, how long they persisted, is entirely absent from the literature.

4. Written fiction of a high standard.

   However, even “literary” science fiction rarely qualifies as literature, because it treats characters as sets of traits rather than as fully realized human beings with unique life stories. —Adam Cadre, 2008

Meronyms

• See also Thesaurus:literature

Derived terms

• antiliterature
• comparative literature
• cyberliterature
• e-literature
• escape literature
• global literature
• grey literature
• hyperliterature
• illiterature
• literature review
• metaliterature
• microliterature
• nonliterature
• obliterature
• paraliterature
• polite literature
• secondary literature
• subliterature
• world literature

 

Related terms

• letter
• literal
• literacy
• literate
• literary

Translations

body of all written works

• Albanian: literaturë (sq), letërsi (sq)
• Amharic: ሥነ ጽሑፍ (śənä ṣəḥuf)
• Arabic: أَدَب‎ (ar) m (ʔadab)
• Aragonese: literatura f
• Armenian: գրականություն (hy) (grakanutʿyun)
• Assamese: সাহিত্য (xahiitto)
• Asturian: lliteratura f
• Azerbaijani: ədəbiyyat (az)
• Bashkir: әҙәбиәт (äðäbiät)
• Basque: literatura (eu)
• Belarusian: літарату́ра (be) f (litaratúra)
• Bengali: সাহিত্য (bn) (sahityo)
• Breton: lennegezh (br) f
• Bulgarian: литерату́ра (bg) f (literatúra)
• Burmese: စာပေ (my) (cape)
• Catalan: literatura (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 文學／文学 (man⁴ hok⁶)

  Dungan: вынщуә (vɨnxuə)

  Mandarin: 文學／文学 (zh) (wénxué)

  Min Nan: 文學／文学 (zh-min-nan) (bûn-ha̍k)

• Cornish: lien m
• Czech: literatura (cs) f
• Danish: litteratur (da) c
• Dhivehi: އަދަބިއްޔާތު‎ (adabiyyātu)
• Dutch: literatuur (nl) f
• Esperanto: literaturo
• Estonian: literatuur, kirjandus
• Faroese: bókmentir f pl
• Finnish: kirjallisuus (fi)
• French: littérature (fr) f
• Galician: literatura (gl) f
• Georgian: ლიტერატურა (liṭeraṭura)
• German: Literatur (de)
• Greek: λογοτεχνία (el) f (logotechnía), βιβλιογραφία (el) f (vivliografía)
• Gujarati: સાહિત્ય (sāhitya)
• Hebrew: סִפְרוּת‎ (he) f (sifrút)
• Hiligaynon: panulat
• Hindi: साहित्य (hi) (sāhitya), अदब (hi) m (adab)
• Hungarian: irodalom (hu)
• Icelandic: bókmenntir (is) f pl
• Ido: literaturo (io)
• Indonesian: kesusasteraan (id)
• Interlingua: litteratura
• Irish: litríocht f
• Italian: letteratura (it) f
• Japanese: 文学 (ja) (ぶんがく, bungaku), 文献 (ja) (ぶんけん, bunken)
• Javanese: sastra
• Kannada: ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ (kn) (sāhitya)
• Kashubian: lëteratura f
• Kazakh: әдебиет (kk) (ädebiet)
• Khmer: អក្សរសាស្ត្រ (km) (ʼaksɑɑ saah)
• Korean: 문학(文學) (ko) (munhak)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: edebiyat (ku)

• Kyrgyz: адабият (ky) (adabiyat), жазын (jazın)
• Lao: ວັນນະຄະດີ (lo) (wan na kha dī)
• Latin: litterae (la) f pl
• Latvian: literatūra f
• Limburgish: literatuur (li)
• Lithuanian: literatūra (lt) f
• Low German: Literatur
• Luxembourgish: Literatur
• Macedonian: литерату́ра f (literatúra), книжевност f (kniževnost)
• Malay: kesusasteraan, sastera, persuratan (ms)
• Malayalam: സാഹിത്യം (ml) (sāhityaṃ)
• Maltese: letteratura f
• Maori: mātātuhi
• Marathi: साहित्य (sāhitya)
• Mirandese: lhiteratura f
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: утга зохиол (utga zoxiol)

• Nepali: साहित्य (sāhitya)
• Norman: littéthatuthe f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: litteratur (no) m

  Nynorsk: litteratur (no) m

• Occitan: literatura (oc) f
• Old English: bōccræft m
• Oriya: ସାହିତ୍ୟ (or) (sahityô)
• Pashto: ادبپوهنه‎ (ps) f (adabpohǝna), ادب‎ (ps) m (adab)
• Persian: ادبیات‎ (fa) (adabiyât), ادب‎ (fa) (adab)
• Polish: literatura (pl) f
• Plautdietsch: Schreft f
• Portuguese: literatura (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਸਾਹਿਤ (pa) (sāhit)
• Romanian: literatură (ro) f
• Russian: литерату́ра (ru) f (literatúra), слове́сность (ru) f (slovésnostʹ) (less common)
• Rusyn: літерату́ра f (literatúra)
• Sanskrit: साहित्य (sa) n (sāhitya)
• Scots: leiteratur
• Scottish Gaelic: litreachas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: књи̏же̄вно̄ст f, литерату́ра f

  Roman: knjȉžēvnōst (sh) f, literatúra (sh) f

• Sicilian: littiratura (scn)
• Sindhi: ادب‎ (adab)
• Sinhalese: සාහිත්‍යය (sāhityaya)
• Slovak: literatúra (sk) f
• Slovene: literatura (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: literatura f

  Upper Sorbian: literatura (hsb) f

• Spanish: literatura (es) f
• Swahili: fasihi (sw)
• Swedish: litteratur (sv) c,
• Tagalog: literatura, panitikan (tl)
• Tajik: адабиёт (tg) (adabiyot), адаб (tg) (adab)
• Tamil: இலக்கியம் (ta) (ilakkiyam)
• Tatar: әдәбият (tt) (ädäbiyat)
• Telugu: సాహిత్యం (sāhityaṁ)
• Thai: วรรณกรรม (th) (wan-ná-gam), วรรณคดี (th) (wan-ná-ká-dii)
• Turkish: literatür (tr), edebiyat (tr), yazın (tr)
• Turkmen: edebiýat
• Ukrainian: літерату́ра (uk) f (literatúra), письме́нництво n (pysʹménnyctvo), письме́нство n (pysʹménstvo)
• Urdu: اَدَب‎ m (adab), اَدَبِیّات‎ f (adabiyyāt)
• Uyghur: ئەدەبىيات‎ (ug) (edebiyat)
• Uzbek: adabiyot (uz)
• Vietnamese: văn chương (vi) (文章), văn học (vi) (文學)
• Volapük: literat (vo)
• Welsh: llên
• West Frisian: literatuer
• Yiddish: ליטעראַטור‎ f (literatur)
• Zhuang: vwnzyoz

the collected creative writing of a nation, people, group or culture

• Bashkir: әҙәбиәт (äðäbiät)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 文學／文学 (zh) (wénxué)

• Finnish: kirjallisuus (fi)
• Galician: literatura (gl) f
• Icelandic: bókmenntir (is) f pl
• Irish: litríocht f
• Japanese: 文学 (ja) (ぶんがく, bungaku)
• Korean: 문학(文學) (ko) (munhak)
• Maori: mātātuhi
• Plautdietsch: Schreft f
• Portuguese: literatura (pt) f
• Serbo-Croatian: književnost (sh) f
• Spanish: literatura (es) f or c
• Swedish: litteratur (sv) c
• Thai: วรรณคดี (th) (wan-ná-ká-dii)

all the papers, treatises etc. published in academic journals on a particular subject

• Bashkir: әҙәбиәт (äðäbiät)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 文獻／文献 (zh) (wénxiàn)

• Finnish: kirjallisuus (fi)
• French: littérature (fr)
• Hungarian: szakirodalom (hu)
• Indonesian: literatur (id)
• Irish: litríocht f
• Italian: letteratura (it)
• Japanese: 文献 (ja) (ぶんけん, bunken), 資料 (ja) (しりょう, shiryō)
• Korean: 문헌(文献) (ko) (munheon)
• Maori: mātātuhi
• Norman: littéthatuthe f (Jersey)
• Polish: literatura (pl)
• Portuguese: literatura (pt) f
• Russian: литерату́ра (ru) f (literatúra)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: литерату́ра f

  Roman: literatúra (sh) f

• Spanish: literatura (es) f
• Swedish: litteratur (sv) c
• Thai: วรรณกรรม (th) (wan-ná-gam)

written fiction of high standard

• Finnish: kaunokirjallisuus (fi)
• Indonesian: literatur (id)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked‌: "not sure those should be listed as separate senses, though"

• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} ئاداب‎ (ku) (adab)

• Marathi: ^{(please verify)} साहित्य (sāhitya)
• Urdu: ^{(please verify)} ادب‎

Further reading

• "literature" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 183.

Anagrams

• literateur, literatuer