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literati

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lit⋅e⋅ra⋅ti

[lit-uh-rah-tee, -rey-]
–plural noun, singular -ra⋅tus [-rah-tuhs, -rey-] .
persons of scholarly or literary attainments; intellectuals.

Origin:
1615–25; < L līterāti learned, scholarly people, n. use of pl. of līterātus. See literate
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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lit·er·a·ti   (lĭt'ə-rä'tē)   
pl.n.  The literary intelligentsia.

[Latin litterātī, līterātī, pl. of litterātus, literate; see literate.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

literati 
"men and women of letters; the learned class as a whole," 1621, from L. lit(t)erati, pl. of lit(t)eratus "lettered" (see literate). The proper sing. would be literatus, though It. literato (1704) sometimes is used.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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