Other forms: literatures
Literature is written work valued as art — novels, poetry, plays — and the school and university subject that studies it. English literature, a work of literature, read literature.
It is uncountable and takes no article in that sense. There is a second, quite unglamorous meaning that a learner will meet in shops and hospitals: literature means printed information — sales literature, take some literature away with you. And in research, the literature means everything already published on a subject, which is why a literature review is the first chapter of most theses. Note literate, which means able to read, and literary, which means to do with literature.
1nounliteratureWritten works valued as art.
“It is entertainment rather than literature and none the worse.”
2nounacademicThe academic study of such works.
“She read literature and then retrained as a nurse.”
3nounprintedPrinted information about something.
“There is literature on the counter about the scheme.”
4nounpublishedAll published research on a subject.
“Nothing in the literature suggests it works.”
literature is written work.
Latin literatura meant writing formed with letters, from litera, a letter. The Greek behind it, diphthera, meant a prepared animal skin — the thing written on. The whole word chain runs back to the material rather than the art.
Latin
litterātūra
Old French
littérature
Middle English
literature
English, today
literature
Built from
From Middle English literature, from Old French littérature, from Latin litterātūra. From Middle English literature, from Old French littérature, from Latin literatura or litteratura, from littera (“letter”), from ett -, from Ancient Greek διφθέρᾱ (“tablet”). Displaced native Old English bōccræft, literally "book + -craft", see Modern English bookcraft.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA