scholar
Pluralscholars
- 1An expert in a particular branch of knowledge, especially one who studies it in depth.
As a scholar of medieval history, he spent decades working in the archives.
Leading scholars still disagree about how the manuscript should be dated.
Similarexpert, specialist
- 2A learned person; someone deeply versed in books and study.
The old scholar could quote Latin poets entirely from memory.
Throughout the town she was known as a scholar and a sharp wit.
Note
Here the weight falls on learning itself rather than on a field. A scholar in this sense is erudite, a savant, at home among books. Henry Petroski's "The Evolution of Eyeglasses" (2013) places scholars beside scribes and illuminators, holding reading stones over their pages around the year 1000. Where the specialist meaning usually names its field (a scholar of medieval history), this one stands on its own.
- 3A student who studies at a school or college, typically one supported by a scholarship.
The college admits twenty scholars each year on full funding.
As a scholar at the academy, she received free tuition and board.
Note
The sense nearest the word's roots: Old English scōlere meant simply "learner," from Late Latin scholāris and schola, "school." Behind that sits Greek skholḗ, "leisure," the free time in which conversation and learning happened. Pupil and student are its close synonyms. A scholarship is typical but not required, and that is what separates it from the Singapore award-holder.
- 4A person who has been awarded a prestigious scholarship.
As a President's Scholar, he read economics at Cambridge before returning to join the civil service.
Many scholars serve a bond with the ministry or statutory board that sponsored their overseas studies.
Note
Singapore English uses the word as a title of achievement. To call someone a scholar there is to say they won one of the prestigious scholarships, not that they are especially learned or still in class. Elsewhere the same sentence would more naturally suggest the learned-person meaning or the student meaning, so the setting tells you which is meant.
Practice
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Origin
It comes from Middle English scolar and Old English scōlere ('scholar, learner'), from Late Latin scholāris, from schola ('school'), which goes back to Ancient Greek σχολή (skholḗ), originally 'spare time, leisure' and later the conversations and knowledge gained during free time.