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literary

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 04:50. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈlɪt.ər.ər.i/, /ˈlɪt.ər.i/, US /ˈlɪt̬.ə.rer.i/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French littéraire and directly borrowed from Latin litterārius (“belonging to letters or learning”),[2][3][4] from littera (“letter”) (see letter) and the suffix -ārius (see -ary).[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pertaining to the letters of the alphabet: 1646, a sense obsolete by the late 18th century.[6][2][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 1750s literary could mean carried on by letters, epistolary.[6] Pertaining to books and written compositions is from 1749,[6] and to literature specifically from 1737 in Barnhart and Etymonline.[2][3] Versed in literature, or engaged in it as a profession, is from 1785.[6] The OED notes that the word does not appear in Johnson's Dictionary (1755), despite his part in the literary life of the time.[6][2] Of painting or sculpture, depicting a story, is from 1928.[6] In the United States a literary was also a literary club or society (1904).[6]

Timeline

  • 1646 – pertaining to letters of the alphabet.[6][2]
  • 1737 – pertaining to literature.[2][3]
  • 1785 – versed in literature.[6]
  • 1928 – of art that tells a story.[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or dealing with literature.
  2. Of writers or the profession of writing.
  3. Fond of or well read in literature.
  4. Of words or style, suited to literature rather than everyday speech; bookish.

Word family

  • literarily
  • literariness
  • extraliterary
  • overliterary
  • preliterary
  • pseudoliterary
  • subliterary
  • unliterary

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press