English
learned
Learned comes from Middle English lerned.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English learned
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto III: “the learned Merlin, well could tell, / Vnder what…”.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lernedWiktionary, English learned
- Englishearliest quotation 1590learnedWiktionary, English learned. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto III: “the learned Merlin, well could tell, / Vnder what…”
The story
Learn formerly had the meaning “to teach”, which is now found only in nonstandard speech, as well as its standard meaning of “to learn”.
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Today it means
adj Having much learning, knowledgeable, erudite; highly educated.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “learned”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Middle English lerned / learned