Word of the Day

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

erudite

\AIR-yuh-dyt; -uh-dyt\ , adjective;

Characterized by extensive reading or knowledge; learned.

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Quotes:

In front of imposing edifices like the Topkapi Palace or Hagia Sophia are guides displaying Government-issued licenses. Many of these guides are erudite historians who have quit low-paying jobs as university professors and now offer private tours.

-- "What's Doing in Istanbul", New York Times, February 23, 1997

The works of Baudrillard, Deleuze, Guattari and Virilio are filled with seemingly erudite references to relativity, quantum mechanics, chaos theory, etc.

-- Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, Fashionable Nonsense

Origin:

Erudite comes from Latin eruditus, from e-, "out of, from" + rudis, "rough, untaught," which is also the source of English rude. Hence one who is erudite has been brought out of a rough, untaught, rude state.