Scholar, School and Leisure Share an Ancestor
A scholar is a learned person or a student on a scholarship. The Greek word behind school meant leisure, because study needed free time.
A scholar is someone who studies a subject deeply, or a student holding a scholarship. The root is a small shock: Greek *schole* meant leisure. Learning was what free citizens did with time they did not have to spend working, so the word for spare time became the word for school.
- A learned person. *A Renaissance scholar.*
- A student with a scholarship. *A King's scholar.*
- Scholarly — of serious study. *A scholarly edition.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | scholar | A visiting scholar. |
| Plural | scholars | Leading scholars. |
| Adjective | scholarly | Scholarly work. |
| Noun | scholarship | A full scholarship. |
| Related | school | A grammar school. |
How it is used in a sentence
- She is a scholar of medieval law.Scholar of a field.
- He won a scholarship to the college.Financial support.
- Recent scholarship has revised the dating.Scholarship also means the body of research.
Academic vocabulary
- Scholarship — money awarded, or the body of research
- Bursary — financial support based on need
- Fellowship — a funded research post
- Peer review — assessment by other specialists
- Monograph — a book-length study of one subject
From Late Latin *scholaris*, from *schola*, school, from Greek *schole*, leisure or a place of learned discussion. The same root gives *scholastic* and *scholium*, a marginal note.
Scholar or student?
A student is learning; a scholar is an established expert. In some schools a scholar is also a student holding an award.
Did school really mean leisure?
Yes. Greek *schole* meant free time, then the discussions people held in it, then the place where those discussions happened.