litterateur

See also: littérateur

English

Alternative forms

• literateur, littérateur

Etymology

From the French littérateur, from the Latin litterātor (“critic”). Doublet of literator.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌlɪtəɹəˈtɜː/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌlɪtəɹəˈtʊɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ), -ʊə(ɹ)

Noun

litterateur (plural litterateurs, feminine litterateuse or litteratrice)

1. A person engaged in various literary works: literary critic, essayist, writer.
   • 1877, William Herman (pseudonym; Ambrose Bierce), The Dance of Death, pages 7–8:

     […] ; and fourthly—as is evident upon the face of these pages—he is no professed litterateur, who can be starved by adverse criticism.

   • 1969, Victor Ernest Watts (translator), Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius (author), The Consolation of Philosophy, Penguin Books, book III, chapter v, page 88, footnote 4:

     Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the Roman philosopher, playwright and littérateur, was the boyhood tutor of the emperor Nero, and later on his adviser.

Derived terms

• litterateuse

Translations

person engaged in various literary works

• French: littérateur (fr) m
• Russian: литера́тор (ru) m (literátor)