orature.
The oral equivalent of literature: a collection of traditional folk songs, stories, etc., that is communicated orally rather than in writing.
Meaning & usage
The oral equivalent of literature: a collection of traditional folk songs, stories, etc., that is communicated orally rather than in writing.
Where this word comes from
Blend of oral + literature, said to have been coined by the Ugandan linguist and literary theorist Pio Zirimu (died 1977): see the 1972 quotation.
Variant of oratour (“a small room or chapel used for prayer and worship, or for private study; an oratory”).
Where this word comes from
From Scots oratur, orature, a variant of oratour, oritour, from Middle English oritore, a variant of ōrātōrī, ōrātōrīe (“room or other place for prayer or private study; chapel, church, temple; shrine”), from Old French oratur, orator, oratore, oratori, oratour (modern French oratoire (“oratory; oratorical”)), from Latin ōrātōrium, from ōrātōrius (“oratorical”), from ōrātor (“orator, speaker”) (from ōrō (“to deliver a speech, orate”), from ōs (“mouth”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óh₃s (“mouth”)) + -ius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.