erudite

Etymology

From Latin ērudītus, participle of ērudiō (“educate, train”), from e- (“out of”) + rudis (“rude, unskilled”). Doublet of erudit.

adj

1. Learned, scholarly, with emphasis on knowledge gained from books.
   At all events, if it involved any secret information in regard to old Roger Chillingworth, it was in a tongue unknown to the erudite clergyman, and did but increase the bewilderment of his mind. 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter XII, in The Scarlet Letter
   Elmer Moffatt had been magnificent, rolling out his alternating effects of humour and pathos, stirring his audience by moving references to the Blue and the Gray, convulsing them by a new version of Washington and the Cherry Tree […], dazzling them by his erudite allusions and apt quotations. 1913, Edith Wharton, “Chapter 43”, in The Custom of the Country
   THE CONCISE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF WORLD RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES. Edited by P. Ransome-Wallis. Hutchinson. 50s. … The most erudite locomotive engineer could not fail to excavate new knowledge from this remarkably comprehensive volume, … 1960 January, “New reading on railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 26
   Perhaps his erudite mind does not quite yet grasp how to transform his beloved scholarly explorations into effective papal politics. 17 Sept 2006, Jeff Israely, “Preaching Controversy”, in Time, archived from the original on 2010-09-19
   Cruz was obviously analogizing Bernie Sanders to the Bolsheviks and Hillary Clinton to the Mensheviks. The oleaginous Texan is an erudite slyboots, but his history is off-kilter. 2015-11-01, Hendrik Hertzberg, “That G.O.P. Debate: Two Footnotes”, in The New Yorker

noun

1. a learned or scholarly person