erudition

See also: érudition

English

Etymology

First attested in the 15th Century. From Middle French érudition, from Latin eruditio (“an instructing, learning, erudition”), from erudire (“to instruct, educate, cultivate”, literally “free from rudeness”), from e (“out”) + rudis (“rude”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɛɹʊˈdɪʃən/

  • Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

    (file)

Noun

erudition (countable and uncountable, plural eruditions)

1. Profound knowledge acquired from learning and scholarship.
2. The refinement, polish and knowledge that education confers.

Synonyms

• (profound knowledge): knowledge, information, learning, lore, scholarship, scholarism

Related terms

• erudite
• rude

Translations

profound knowledge, especially that based on learning and scholarship

Armenian: ներհունություն (hy) (nerhunutʻyun) Bengali: এলেম (bn) (elem) Bulgarian: еруди́ция (bg) (erudícija) Chinese: Mandarin: 博學 / 博学 (zh) (bóxué), 學識 / 学识 (zh) (xuéshí), 學問 / 学问 (zh) (xuéwèn), 學問 / 学问 (zh) (xuéwen) Danish: lærdom c, erudition c Dutch: geleerdheid (nl) f, eruditie (nl) f Finnish: oppineisuus (fi) French: érudition (fr) f Galician: erudición (gl) f German: Belesenheit (de) f, Gelehrtheit f, Bildung (de) f, Gelehrsamkeit (de) f Greek: πολυμάθεια (el) (polymátheia), λογιότητα (el) f (logiótita), σοφία (el) f (sofía) Hebrew: אוֹרְיָנוּת (he) f (oryanút) Hungarian: műveltség (hu), tanultság (hu) Japanese: 博学 (ja) (はくがく, hakugaku) Korean: 박학 (ko) (bakhak) Latin: doctrīna f, ērudītiō f Polish: erudycja (pl), oczytanie (pl) n Portuguese: erudição (pt) f Romanian: erudiție (ro) f Russian: эруди́ция (ru) f (erudícija), начи́танность (ru) f (načítannostʹ), у́мственный бага́ж m (úmstvennyj bagáž) Serbo-Croatian: načitanost (sh) f, начитаност f, erudicija (sh) f Spanish: erudición (es) f Swedish: bildning (sv) c, beläsenhet (sv), lärdom (sv) c, erudition (sv) c (archaic), vitterhet (sv) c Tagalog: kaalaliman Turkish: bilginlik Ukrainian: еруди́ція (erudýcija), бага́ж зна́нь (baháž znánʹ), розумо́вий бага́ж (rozumóvyj baháž)

Further reading

• “erudition”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “erudition”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “erudition”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.