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History vocabulary · Social History

Literacy

Meaning in history, with examples

/ˈlɪtərəsi/nounCommon term

In history, literacy means: The ability to read and write, and the share of a population who have this ability, which historians use to study education and social change.

In Turkish: okuryazarlık

How it is used

Historians estimate literacy rates from signatures in marriage registers, school data and censuses, and study how printing, religion and state schools raised them. Phrases: the literacy rate, mass literacy. The adjective is literate; illiterate means unable to read and write.

Example sentences

  1. The alphabet reform of 1928 was intended to raise literacy in Turkey.

  2. Literacy rates rose quickly once primary schooling became compulsory.

Common collocations

  • literacy rate
  • mass literacy
  • rising literacy
  • female literacy
  • literacy campaign
  • censusAn official count of a population carried out by a state, usually recording details such as age, sex, household, occupation or property.
  • social classA group of people in a society who share a similar economic position, such as wealth, occupation or education, and often similar status and opportunities.
  • manuscriptA book or document written by hand, especially one produced before printing became common; also an author's text before it is published.
  • urbanizationThe growth of towns and cities, and the movement of a growing share of the population from the countryside into urban areas.

More terms: Social History

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