• erudition •
Printable Version Pronunciation: er-ê-di-shên or er-yê-di-shên • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun, mass
Meaning: Deep, profound, scholarly knowledge of a subject.
Notes: Today's Good Word is the noun from the adjective erudite "deeply knowledgeable", as would be an erudite scholar. In RP, Received Pronunciation (that of the British upper class), the U is fully pronounced: [e-ru-di-shên]. This pronunciation is also acceptable elsewhere in the English-speaking world.
In Play: Erudition refers to profound knowledge obtained through persistent lucubration at excellent educational institutions: "President Bush is a man of considerable erudition, having graduate from both Yale and Harvard universities as well as the prestigious Andover Academy." However, beware of those who attempt to fake erudition: "I would expect a person of your erudition to know that Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, not Slovenia."
Word History: Today's Good Word is the English version of Latin action noun, eruditio(n-) "polishing, education" from the verb erudire "to polish, hone, educate". The verb is based on the phrase ex "out of" + rudis "rough, raw, unfinished", the ultimate origin of the English word rude. It is tempting to see a kinship with Latin crudus "raw, uncooked, unprepared" but the loss of an initial C in Latin would be inexplicable. (Today we thank the most erudite Eric Berntson for his suggestion of this lexical rubric of the overeducated.)
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