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The literati are a small group of people who know a lot about books and writing — critics, professors, serious writers, the kind of readers who talk about novels as if that were their job. The word is already plural; everyday English has no common singular. It can sound , but it can also sound a little sharp, as if those people live in a closed club. You will meet it in newspapers and essays more than in speech. Though actually, it comes straight from Latin for “lettered people” — people who had letters, meaning they could read. It is a cousin of literate and literature, not a fancy spelling of “literary tea.”
文人、文學圈人士
組成From Latin līterātī, plural of līterātus (“lettered, literate”).
同家族的字
- literatesame Latin root: having letters; able to read
- literaturesame Latin root for letters and writing
- literacythe reading-and-writing skill this group is known for
- literarythe adjective for books and writing
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
literatinoun/ˌlɪt.əˈɹɑː.tiː/
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Well-educated, erudite, literary people; intellectuals who are interested in literature.
- First, to Counsellor Fitzclabber, who, he told me, was then employed in compiling a history of the kings of Minster, from Irish manuscripts; and then to his friend Mr. Gahagan, who was a profound philosopher and politician, and had projected many excellent schemes for the good of his country. But it seems these literati had been very ill rewarded for their ingenious labours; for, between them both, there was but one shirt, and half a pair of breeches.
- He is not of the people, this lordly magistrate. He is one of the privileged literati. His literary degrees are high and numerous.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。