literatus

(lit-e-ra’tus), n.; pl. literati (-ti). ([L. litter at us, literatus, lettered, learned; see literate.) A man of letters or erudition; in the plural, literary men in general; the literary cla ; learned people. [Rare in the singular. Among foreigners in China the term Jiteratt is applied to the scholars and learned men of the country generally, especially to those who have taken one or more degrees, but are not in office and not engaged in trade, Manifold are the tastes and dispositions of the enlightened literati, who turn over the pages of history. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 164. Now we are to consider that our bright ideal of a literatus may chance to be maimed. De Quincey.