Erudite means deeply learned from long study. An erudite scholar, an erudite footnote, erudite and readable.
It is a compliment about reading rather than intelligence, since erudition is acquired. The Latin means brought out of roughness, from rudis, unpolished, so an erudite person has had the rough edges taken off.
1adjectiveeruditeDeeply learned from long study.
“The erudite professor could quote Greek poetry from memory.”
erudite is a quality.
Latin eruditus comes from erudire, to educate, from ex plus rudis, rough or unskilled.
Latin
ērudītus
English, today
erudite
Built from
From Latin ērudītus, participle of ērudiō (“educate, train”), from e- (“out of”) + rudis (“rude, unskilled”). a doublet of erudit.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA