Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

man of letters

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.63 in modern English

Syllables: man of let-ters
IPA

17

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

2

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A literary man; a scholar or author.

Dated

Example Sentences

"This may be accounted for largely on the ground that Cicero and Petrarch were men of the same temperament and cast of mind. They were both typical men of letters. The man of letters is intellectually alert; sensitive to impressions and able to report them; hospitable to all ideas of his time; […]"
"He was a pure man of letters, untimely born in a world that had no need of letters; […] he had abandoned his real calling, and taken a sub-editorial job on a women's weekly, where fashion-plates and paper patterns alternated with New England love-stories and advertisements of temperance drinks."

Etymology

Calque of French homme de lettres.

Usage

Dated

Inflected Forms

men of letters (plural)

Phrases

man of law

Frequently Paired Words

man of law woman of letters

Questions

What does man of letters mean?: A literary man; a scholar or author.
Where does man of letters come from?: Calque of French homme de lettres.

How to pronounce man of letters

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