literacy

English

Etymology

From literate + -cy.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtəɹəsi/, /ˈlɪtɹəsi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtəɹəsi/, [-ɾ(ə)ɹə-], /ˈlɪtɹəsi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: li‧ter‧a‧cy

Noun

literacy (countable and uncountable, plural literacies)

1. The ability to read and write.
2. (by extension) The ability to understand and evaluate something.

   computer literacy

   media literacy

   • 2023 June 9, Tory Shepherd, “Can pornography be healthy? If it follows six rules, perhaps”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Prof Alan McKee, who led the project, argues that young adults should be taught “porn literacy” to help them “read porn well” and look for healthy and ethical depictions of sex.

Antonyms

• illiteracy

Derived terms

• aliteracy
• antiliteracy
• biliteracy
• cineliteracy
• computeracy
• computer literacy
• cultural literacy
• cyberliteracy
• disciplinary literacy
• ecoliteracy
• electracy
• e-literacy
• emergent literacy
• food literacy
• health literacy
• hyperliteracy
• information literacy
• mediacy
• media literacy
• metaliteracy
• multiliteracy
• pluriliteracy
• preliteracy
• protoliteracy
• quasiliteracy
• semiliteracy
• sexual literacy
• subliteracy
• technoliteracy
• transliteracy
• triliteracy

 

Related terms

• graphicacy
• letter
• literal
• literary
• literate
• literature
• numeracy

 

Translations

ability to read and write

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: savad (az)
• Catalan: alfabetisme (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 認字／认字 (zh) (rènzì), 識字／识字 (zh) (shízì), 讀寫能力／读写能力 (zh) (dúxiě nénglì)

• Czech: gramotnost f
• Dutch: alfabetisering (nl), alfabetisme (nl)
• Finnish: luku- ja kirjoitustaito, lukutaito (fi)
• French: littératie (fr), littérisme (fr), alphabétisme (fr) m
• Galician: alfabetización (gl) f
• Georgian: წერა-კითხვის უნარი (c̣era-ḳitxvis unari), წერა-კითხვის ცოდნა (c̣era-ḳitxvis codna), წერა-კითხვა (c̣era-ḳitxva)
• German: Lese- und Schreibfähigkeit f
• Greek: αλφαβητισμός (el) m (alfavitismós)
• Hebrew: אוריינות (he) f (orianút)
• Hungarian: írástudás (hu)
• Indonesian: literasi (id)
• Irish: litearthacht f
• Italian: alfabetismo (it) m, alfabetizzazione (it) f
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: خوێندەواری (xwêndewarî)

• Macedonian: писменост f (pismenost)
• Malayalam: സാക്ഷരത (ml) (sākṣarata)
• Polish: piśmienność f, alfabetyzm m
• Portuguese: alfabetização (pt) f, alfabetismo m, letramento (pt) m, literacia (pt) f
• Romanian: alfabetizare (ro) f, alfabetism n, instruire (ro) f, școlire (ro) f, știință de carte (ro) f
• Russian: гра́мотность (ru) f (grámotnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: litearrachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: писменост f

  Roman: pismenost (sh) f

• Spanish: alfabetismo (es) m
• Swedish: läskunnighet (sv) c (ability to read), skrivkunnighet (sv) c (ability to write), läs- och skrivkunnighet (sv) c (ability to read and write)
• Tagalog: kanulatan
• Telugu: అక్షరాస్యత (akṣarāsyata)
• Thai: การรู้หนังสือ (th)
• Turkish: okuryazarlık (tr), okuma yazma (tr)
• Ukrainian: письме́нність (uk) f (pysʹménnistʹ), гра́мотність (uk) f (hrámotnistʹ)
• Welsh: llythrennedd (cy) m

understanding of something

• Azerbaijani: savad (az)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 能力 (zh) (nénglì)

• Czech: gramotnost f
• Finnish: lukutaito (fi)
• French: compréhension (fr) f
• Georgian: წიგნიერება (c̣igniereba), მწიგნობრობა (mc̣ignobroba), განათლებულობა (ganatlebuloba), გათვიცნობიერებულობა (gatvicnobierebuloba)
• German: Kenntnisse (de) f pl, Bildung (de) f
• Greek: γνώση (el) f (gnósi)
• Hebrew: אוריינות (he) f (orianút)
• Indonesian: literasi (id)
• Russian: гра́мотность (ru) f (grámotnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: litearrachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: писменост f

  Roman: pismenost (sh) f

• Spanish: cultura (es) f, competencia (es) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Further reading

• “literacy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “literacy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.