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Definitions: Literature |
LiteratureNoun1. Creative writing of recognized artistic value. 2. The humanistic study of a body of literature; "he took a course in French literature". 3. Published writings in a particular style on a particular subject; "the technical literature"; "one aspect of Waterloo has not yet been treated in the literature". 4. The profession or art of a writer; "her place in literature is secure". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "literature" was first used: sometime in the early 14th century. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Computing | Literature The literature. Computer-science journals and other publications, vaguely gestured at to answer a question that the speaker believes is trivial. Thus, one might answer an annoying question by saying "It's in the literature." Oppose Knuth, which has no connotation of triviality. (1994-11-04). Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing. |
Publishing & Graphic Arts | A short printed work, consisting of inly a few leaves, usually stitched or sewn. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Literature is literally "an acquaintance with letters" (as in the first sense given in the Oxford English Dictionary), but has generally come to identify a collection of texts. Nations can have literatures, as can corporations, philosophical schools or historical periods. It is commonly held that a literature of a nation, for example, is the collection of texts which make it a whole nation. The Hebrew Bible, Beowulf, the Iliad and the Odyssey and the American constitution, all fall within this definition of a kind of literature. More generally, a literature is equated with a collection of stories, poems and plays that revolve around a particular topic. In this case, the stories, poems and plays may or may not have nationalistic implications. The Western Canon is one such literature.
Classifying a specific item as being part of a literature (be it American literature, advertising literature, gay and lesbian literature or Roman literature) is very difficult. To some people, "literature" can be broadly applied to any symbolic record which can include images, sculptures, as well as letters. To others, a literature must only include examples of text composed of letters, or other narrowly defined examples of symbolic written language (hieroglyphs, for example). Even more conservative interpreters of the concept would demand that the text have a physical form, usually on paper or some other portable form, to the exclusion of inscriptions or digital media.
Furthermore, there is a perceived difference between "literature" and some popular forms of written work. The terms "literary fiction" and "literary merit" are often used to distinguish between individual works. For example, the works of Charles Dickens are perceived by almost everyone as being "literature", whereas the works of Jeffrey Archer tend to be looked down on as unworthy of inclusion under the general heading of English literature. Works may be excluded if, for example, the standard of grammar and syntax is poor, the story unbelievable or disjointed, the characters inconsistent or unconvincing. Genre fiction (e.g. romance, crime, science fiction) is sometimes excluded from consideration as "literature".
Frequently, these boundaries are crossed by the texts that make up literature. Illustrated stories, hypertexts, cave paintings and inscribed monuments have all at one time or another pressed the boundaries of what is and is not literature.
Poetry is perhaps the oldest form of literature: The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh dates from around 3000 B.C.; the Bible and the works of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Much poetry is written in specific forms: the haiku, the limerick, the sonnet, for example. A haiku must have seventeen syllables, distributed over three lines in groups of five, seven, and five, and should have an image of a season and something to do with nature. A limerick has five lines, with a rhyme scheme of AABBA, and line lengths of 3,3,2,2,3 stressed syllables.
Some poetic norms are language-specific: Greek poetry rarely rhymes, Italian or French poetry often does, English and German can go either way (although non-rhyming poetry is often, perhaps unfairly, treated as more "serious"). Perhaps the most paradigmatic style of English poetry (exemplified in Shakespeare and Milton) is blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter. Some languages prefer longer lines; some shorter. Some of these conventions result from the ease of fitting a language's vocabulary and grammar into certain structures rather than others (for example, some languages contain more rhyming words than others, or typically have longer words). Other structural conventions are historical accidents, resulting from many speakers of a language associating good poetry with a verse form preferred by a particular good poet.
Works for theatre (see below) were traditionally written in verse. This is now rare, although many would argue that the language of drama remains intrinsically poetic.
A play is another classical literary form that has continued to evolve over the years, comprised chiefly of dialog between characters, usually intended for dramatic / theatrical (see theatre) performance rather than reading. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries opera developed as a combination of poetry, drama, and music. Nearly all drama was in verse form until comparatively recently.
Greek drama is the earliest we have substantial knowledge of. The Tragedy developed as a performance associated with religious and civic festivals, typically enacting or developing upon well-known themes in history or mythology. Tragedies were generally very serious in theme and treated important conflicts in human nature, but were not necessarily "tragic" as the word is now used--meaning sad and without a happy ending. Comedy was a later development; Greek festivals eventually came to include three tragedies balanced by a comedy or Satyr Play.
Modern theatre does not in general adhere to any of these restrictions of form or theme. A play is anything written for performance by actors (screenplays, for example); and even some things that are not; many contemporary writers have taken advantage of the dialogue-centred character of plays as a way of presenting literary work that is intended simply to be read, not performed.
An essay is a discussion of a topic from an author's personal point of view, exemplified by works by Francis Bacon or Charles Lamb. A memoir is the story of an author's life from his personal point of view. An epistle is usually a formal, didactic, or elegant letter.
"Prose" denotes writing that does not adhere to any particular formal structures (other than simple grammar); "non-poetic writing," writing, perhaps. The term is sometimes used pejoratively, but prosaic writing is simply writing that says something without necessarily trying to say it in a beautiful way, or using beautiful words. Prose writing can of course be beautiful; the suggestion then is that it is not beautiful in virtue of the formal features of words (rhymes, alliteration, meter), but the distinction does not need to be marked precisely, and perhaps cannot be. There is, of course, the "prose poem," which attempts to convey the aesthetic richness typical of poetry using only prose; and there is the "free verse", which is poetry not adhering to any of the strictures of one or another formal poetic style.
Prose is the normal form of writing for fiction: novels, short stories, and so forth. (The term "fiction" does not normally apply to poetry, even poetry used to tell stories.) All of these exist in occasional scattered form throughout history, but have not developed into systematic and discrete literary forms until relatively recently. Prose works of fiction are sometimes categorized by length. The lines are somewhat arbitrary, since one can write a work with any number of words; yet publishing convention dictates the following: A short story is prose writing of less than 10,000 to 20,000 words (and usually more than 500 words) which may or may not have a narrative arc. A story more than about 20,000 words is called a novella. Beyond that, especially when beyond 50,000 words, a work of fiction is called a novel. For an interesting discussion about short stories from their originating time, see Edgar Allan Poe's ....
A novel is simply a long story written in prose; yet it is a comparatively recent development. In Europe the first significant novel is perhaps Don Quixote, published in 1600. Yet earlier works, such as the Decameron, the Canterbury Tales have comparable forms, and would probably be called novels if they were written today. Earlier works in Asia, such as China's Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Japan's Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki, even more strongly resemble the novel as we now think of it.
Early novels in Europe were not, at the time, viewed as significant literature. Perhaps this was because "mere" prose writing was seen as easy and so unimportant. It has become clear, however, that prose writing can be aesthetically pleasing without adhering to poetic forms; and the freedom the author gains in not having to concern himself with verse structure often translates into a more complex plot or one richer in precise detail than is typical of the plots even of narrative poetry. This also frees the author to experiment with many different literary styles--including poetry--in the scope of a single novel.
. See Ian Watt's The Rise of the Novel. [This definition needs to be expanded]
Philosophy, history, journalism, and legal and scientific writings have traditionally been called literature. They are among the oldest prose writings in existence; novels and prose stories earned the names "fiction" to distinguish them from factual writing or nonfiction, which is what prose has historically been used for.
This has become less so in the case of science over the last two centuries, as advances and specialization have made new scientific research inaccessible to most audiences; science is now published mostly in journals. Scientific works of Euclid, Aristotle, Copernicus, and Newton still possess great value; but since the science in them is largely outdated, they can no longer be used for scientific instruction, yet they are too technical to sit well in most literature programmes. They are now read less and less outside of history of science programmes. There are a number of books "popularizing" science which might still deserve the title "literature"; history will tell.
Philosophy too has become an increasingly academic discipline. This is lamented by more of its practicitioners than was the case with the sciences; nonetheless most new philosophical work is done in academic journals. Major philosophers through history: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Descartes, Nietzsche--have become as canonical as any writers can be. Some contemporary philosophy undoubtedly merits being called "literature"--the work of Wittgenstein, for example; but much of it does not, and some areas, such as logic, have become extremely technical to the same degree as the sciences.
A great deal of historical writing can still be called literature, particularly the genre known as creative nonfiction as can a great deal of journalism, literary journalism. However these areas have become extremely large, and often their purpose is just utilitarian: to record data or convey immediate information. As a result the writing in these fields is not as a rule literary, although it often and in its better moments is. Major historians include Herodotus, Thucydides, Procopius, all of whom are considered canonical literary figures. Law is a less clear case. Some writings of Plato and Aristotle, or even the early parts of the Bible, might count as legal. The law tables of Hammurabi of Babylon might count. Roman civil law was codified during the reign of Justinian I of Byzantium, and this is considered significant literature. The founding documents of many countries, including the Constitution of the United States, are treated as literature, howver legal writing is rarely noted now for its literary merits.
Most of these fields, then, through specialization or proliferation, no longer generally constitute "literature" in the sense under discussion. They may sometimes be "literary literature"; more often they are what might be called "technical literature" or "professional literature."
Comics are stories told in a combination of sequential artwork,dialogue and text.
Forms of literature
Poetry
A poem is a composition usually written in verse. Poems rely heavily on imagery, precise word choice, and metaphor, may be written in measures consisting of patterns of stresses (metric feet), and may be rhymed or unrhymed. It is difficult to characterize poetry precisely. Typically, though, poetry is literature that makes some significant use of the formal properties of the words it uses--those properties attached to the written or spoken form of a word, rather than to its meaning. Metre depends on syllables and speaking rhythms; rhyme and alliteration depend on words having similar pronunciations. Some contemporary poets, such as E. E. Cummings, make extensive use of the visual form of a word.Drama
Essays
Prose Fiction
Other Prose Literature
Somewhat Related Narrative Forms
Genres of literature
Literary techniques
Literary figures
Literature by country or language
Literary Analysis
Story Elements
Themes in literature
Literary Periods
Other
See also
External links
See also: Literature basic topics
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Literature."
Synonyms: LiteratureSynonyms: belles-lettres, learning. (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Evidence | Citation, reference; legal research, literature search (experiment). |
Experiment | Literature search, library research. |
Knowledge | Erudition, learning, lore, scholarship, reading, letters; literature; book madness; book learning, bookishness; bibliomania, bibliolatry; information, general information; store of knowledge; education; (teaching); culture, menticulture, attainments; acquirements, acquisitions; accomplishments; proficiency; practical knowledge; (skill); liberal education; dilettantism; rudiments; (beginning). |
Language | Literature, letters, polite literature, belles lettres, muses, humanities, literae humaniores, republic of letters, dead languages, classics; genius of language; scholarship; (scholar). |
Record | Gazette, gazetteer; newspaper, daily, magazine; almanac, almanack; calendar, ephemeris, diary, log, journal, daybook, ledger; cashbook, petty cashbook; professional journal, scientific literature, the literature, primary literature, secondary literature, article, review article. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Literature |
| English words defined with "literature": Bachelor of Literature ♦ Master of Literature, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "literature": Alnaschar of Modern Literature ♦ Coryphaeus of German Literature ♦ Giant of Literature, Great Cham of Literature ♦ Intel Literature Sales ♦ Nose Literature ♦ Review Literature ♦ the literature. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "literature": Letterure ♦ Philologer ♦ Yellow-covered. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Your world must have very dry literature. (Star Trek: Voyager; writing credit: Douglas Day Stewart) I'm taking a Literature class at the New School. (Friends; writing credit: Jörn O. Jensen; Birger Larsen) Political commitment in twentieth century literature. (Annie Hall; writing credit: Woody Allen ; Marshall Brickman) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Literature Au-Go-Go (1966) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | A young, professional, asian man stands next to a rack of medical literature holding two booklets. See artwork: OCC-11.Credit: Bill Branson (photographer). |  | Figure 42. Negretti and Zambra portable ballast mounting mechanism upon returning to the surface. This was designed to eliminate some problems associated with the mounting mechanism used on the CHALLENGER. This modificatio n was made in 1878 and is described in the scientific literature of the day..Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |
 | [Bibliographic Services Division Indexing literature anaylyst].Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Index Medicus [title page, Jan. 31, 1879] : Current Medical Literature of the World.Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | I've supplied him with literature.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | "I won the Nobel Prize for literature. What was your crime?".Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | University of Alabama students burn desegregation literature during demonstration in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Feb. 6 against the enrollment of Autherine Lucy, an African American student.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Mules in western China carrying Buddhist canonical literature, Choni Kanjur/Tanjur, on first stage of journey to the Library of Congress.Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Southeast Missouri Farms. Racks of form literature available to FSA (Farm Security Administration) clients in project office.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | We must ensure that literature and art fit well into the revolutionary machine as a component, that they operate as powerful weapons for uniting and educating the people and for attacking and destroying the enemy, and that they help the people fight the e.Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
August Wilhelm Von Schlegel | Literature is the immortality of speech. |
Benjamin Disraeli | Critics are those who have failed in literature and art. |
Doris Lessing | Literature is analysis after the event. |
Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton | In science read the newest works, in literature read the oldest. |
George Borrow | A losing trade, I assure you, sir: literature is a drug. |
Jules Renard | Whenever I apply myself to writing, literature comes between us. |
Lord Alfred Tennyson | A louse in the locks of literature. |
Matthew Arnold | Journalism is literature in a hurry. |
Seneca | Leisure without literature is death and burial alive. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | The German literate reversed this process with the profane French literature. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | In this age of literature, such collections on a very grand scale are not uncommon. |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | Literature, its exertions and objects, were now of little moment in my regard. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | These salons had a literature and politics of their own. |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | One time I hear you talk against English literature. |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | Of a life of luxury the fruit is luxury, whether in agriculture, or commerce, or literature, or art. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | There have been few such studies in the acupuncture literature. (references) | |
Data compiled from the literature review are presented by county. (references) | ||
Experts prepared abstracts with relevant citations from the literature. (references) | ||
Business | Saudi companies appreciate receiving promotional literature from overseas. (references) | |
All labels, operators manuals and other literature must be printed in French. (references) | ||
Books published in Mexico include text books, workbooks and literature in Spanish. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Belarus | The Lukashenka regime did little to counter the spread of anti-Semitic literature. (references) |
Pakistan | Obscene literature, a category broadly defined by the Government, is subject to seizure. (references) | |
Burma | Cases involving prodemocracy literature in the past were punished regularly by imprisonment. (references) | |
Economic History | Ireland | A national literature in Irish is reemerging. (references) |
Australia | Interested respondents are sent product literature. (references) | |
Costa Rica | Service literature and contracts should be provided in Spanish. (references) | |
Human Rights | Brunei | There were no known arrests for publishing or distributing antigovernment literature during the year. (references) |
Uzbekistan | Akhmadalieva was held for 2 months without charges, before being charged with possessing unapproved Islamist literature. (references) | |
Syria | Generally the security services set up checkpoints to search for smuggled goods, weapons, narcotics, and subversive literature. (references) | |
Minorities | Georgia | During the attacks, Basilists burned religious literature, broke up religious gatherings, and beat parishioners, in some cases with nail-studded sticks and clubs. (references) |
Georgia | On April 30, a group of "Basilists" attacked a prayer group of Jehovah's Witnesses in Tbilisi with clubs spiked with nails, burned literature, smashed windows and furniture, and seriously injured three persons. (references) | |
Political Economy | Uzbekistan | The security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained persons, on false charges, particularly Muslims suspected of extremist sympathies, frequently planting narcotics, weapons, or banned literature on them. (references) |
Trade | Argentina | Article 5: - The use of words, phrases, descriptions, trademarks, product literature, brochures, etc. (references) |
Norway | Samples, catalogs, photographs, or other descriptive literature should be submitted whenever possible. (references) | |
Botswana | Prohibited imports include habit-forming drugs and objectionable literature (pornographic magazines and videotapes). (references) | |
Travel | Chile | Promotional literature should be in Spanish. (references) |
Guatemala | Catalogs and technical literature should be provided in careful translations. (references) | |
Colombia | It is strongly recommended that all product literature be in Spanish or dual language. (references) | |
Worker Rights | United Kingdom | For example, the DFID and the FCO have distributed antitrafficking literature and videos in the Balkans and other points of origin. (references) |
Belarus | Members of independent trade unions were arrested for distributing union literature, had union material confiscated, were denied access to work sites, were subjected to excessive fines, and were pressured by their managers and state security services to resign from their jobs because of trade union activities. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | DULLARD, n. A member of the reigning dynasty in letters and life. The Dullards came in with Adam, and being both numerous and sturdy have overrun the habitable world. The secret of their power is their insensibility to blows; tickle them with a bludgeon and they laugh with a platitude. The Dullards came originally from Boeotia, whence they were driven by stress of starvation, their dullness having blighted the crops. For some centuries they infested Philistia, and many of them are called Philistines to this day. In the turbulent times of the Crusades they withdrew thence and gradually overspread all Europe, occupying most of the high places in politics, art, literature, science and theology. Since a detachment of Dullards came over with the Pilgrims in the Mayflower and made a favorable report of the country, their increase by birth, immigration, and conversion has been rapid and steady. According to the most trustworthy statistics the number of adult Dullards in the United States is but little short of thirty millions, including the statisticians. The intellectual centre of the race is somewhere about Peoria, Illinois, but the New England Dullard is the most shockingly moral. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Jodie Foster | Literature, which I think is really helpful because it's about reading and about reading the text and interpreting it. |
Mattie Stepanek | Well, to your first question, in my schoolwork, my favorite subject is probably my British literature and my world history. I also enjoy my vocabulary. And to give you an honest answer, my least favorite subject is biology. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
George Washington | 1789-1797 | Nor am I less persuaded that you will agree with me in opinion that there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Literature" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.98% of the time. "Literature" is used about 5,205 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.98% | 5,204 | 1,881 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.02% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 5,205 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "literature": bachelor of Literature ♦ classical literature ♦ comparative literature ♦ criticism of literature ♦ dirty literature ♦ english language and literature ♦ escapist literature ♦ history and criticism of literature ♦ history of literature ♦ Intel Literature Sales ♦ Juvenile Literature [Publication Type] ♦ Library Literature ♦ literature search ♦ literature search experiment ♦ master of Literature ♦ medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System ♦ newer literature ♦ primary literature ♦ Review Literature ♦ Review Literature [Publication Type] ♦ romance languages and literature ♦ sales literature ♦ scientific literature ♦ secondary literature ♦ smutty literature ♦ specialist in literature ♦ tertiary literature ♦ the literature ♦ wisdom literature ♦ work of literature. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "literature": literature-based, literature-nucella, literature-search, literature-searching. | |
Ending with "literature": non-literature. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "literature"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaan | literatuur, letterkunde. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | literaturë, letërsi (letters), lënda e letërsisë në shkollë, materiale (materials). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مادة مطبوعة (label, typecast), صناعة الأدب (letter), أدب (chasten, correct, discipline, educate, good manners, letters, propriety, school, seemliness, urbanity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | литература. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 文献 (documentation), 文學 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | literatura (letters, writing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | litteratur, smaatryk (booklet, brochure, pamphlet), pjece (booklet, brochure, pamphlet), flyveskrift (booklet, brochure, pamphlet), brochure (leaflet, pamphlet, paperback). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | litteratuur, literatuur, letterkunde (belles-lettres). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | literaturo. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | bókmentir. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | مطبوعات (Press), نوشتجات (Work), ادبیات (Letter), ادب وهنر. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | kirjallisuus, kaunokirjallisuus (belles lettres, belles-lettres, fiction). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | littérature. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frisian | literatuer. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Literatur (letters), schrifttum. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | λογοτεχνία (belles lettres). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | ספרות. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | irodalom (classics, letters, lit). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | kesusasteraan. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | letteratura (humanities). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | リチウム爆弾 (car with 1000cc engine, lip, lip cream, lip service, lipreading, lipstick, literacy, literal, literary, lithium bomb, lithograph, Lithuania, litmus, litre, redisplay, reduce, rich, ridge, ripple, rocking motion, small-scale finance), 文芸 (art and literature, belles-lettres), 文献 (books), 文学 , エキス剤 (COMBINE, eccentric, ecstasy, Ecuador, ecumenism, equitable, equity, equity finance, Excalibur, Excelan, excellent, exchange, exchange order, excursion, excursion fare, excursion ticket, excuse me, executor, exercise, exhaust manifold, exhaust pipe, exorcist, exotic, exoticism, exotisme, expedition, expense, expensive, expire, explorer, explosion, explosion shot, export, express, expression, expressway, extension, extent, exterior, external, extract). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | リテラチャー , ぶんがく, ぶんげい (art and literature, belles-lettres), ぶんけん (books, decentralization of authority, detachment, detail), エクリチュール . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 문학 (literacy, literary). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | screeuaght, lettyraght (belles-lettres, letters, literacy), focklym. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | litteratur. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Papiamen | literatura. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | iteraturelay literatura. (various references) literatura (letter), folheto (bill, booklet, brochure, capsule, cod, flysheet, handout, leafy, pamphlet, pamphleteer, prospectus, tract). (various references) lucrãri de referinţã, literaturå, literaturã (bibliography, letter, the desk), literã (character, letter, type), profesiunea de scriitor, material informativ, filologie (philology), bibliografie (bibliography). (various references) литература (belles lettres, literature books). (various references) litreachas. (various references) literatura, učenost (scholarship), književnost (letters), štampana stvar. (various references) literatura, la literatura, información impresa, impresos (printed matter), folletos, folleto (booklet, brochure, flier, handbill, handout, leaflet, pamphlet, paperback, prospectus), estudios impresos, bibliografía (bibliography). (various references) litteratur (letters). (various references) สิ่งตีพิมพ์, การประพันธ์, งานประพันธ์, วรรณคดี. (various references) literatür, yazın (in summer, in the summer, letters), yazılı eser, edebiyat (belles lettres, letters, polite letters). (various references) edebiяat. (various references) література. (various references) văn học tác phẩm văn học, văn chương. (various references) llenyddiaeth, lle+n (learning, lore). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | literatura, littera, litterae, litteram, litterarum, litteras, litteris. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "literature": literatures. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "literature": subliterature. (additional references) | |
Words containing "literature": subliteratures. (additional references) | |
| |
"Literature" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: leterature, literatur, literatura, literuature, litirature, litteratur, litteratura, litterature, littrature, liturature, lutherature. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "literature" (pronounced li"terukher) |
| 3 | -u kh er | caricature, curvature, expenditure, forfeiture, investiture, musculature, signature, tablature, temperature. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-e-i-l-r-r-t-t-u" | |
-1 letter: elutriate. | |
-2 letters: laterite, literate, litterer, retailer, ruralite, ureteral. | |
-3 letters: alerter, alterer, ariette, atelier, earlier, iterate, learier, rattier, rattler, realter, relater, retitle, retreat, retrial, reutter, ruttier, tearier, tertial, titular, trailer, treater, turtler, tutelar, uralite, utterer. | |
-4 letters: aerier, artier, attire, elater, eluate, irater, irreal, latter, letter, litter, railer, ratite, ratter, rattle, realer, relate, relier, retail, retear. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-e-i-l-r-r-t-t-u" | |
+1 letter: literatures, litterateur. | |
+2 letters: litterateurs, rearticulate. | |
+3 letters: rearticulated, rearticulates, subliterature, tetrafluoride. | |
+4 letters: intermenstrual, multiparameter, overarticulate, subliteratures, tetrafluorides, ultraenergetic. | |
+5 letters: interlacustrine, interperceptual, overarticulated, overarticulates, ultracentrifuge. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4C 69 74 65 72 61 74 75 72 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).-.. .. - . .-. .- - ..- .-. . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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| Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "literature" |
