belles-lettres
The humanitiesThe humanities.
Meaning
3 senses(obsolete, uncountable)The humanities.
(archaic, uncountable)Literature, particularly light compositions valued for their aesthetic properties.
Belles Lettres, schöne Literatur, Belletristik
худо́жественная литерату́раxudóžestvennaja literatúra, беллетри́стикаbelletrístika
худо́жня літерату́раxudóžnja literatúra, белетри́стикаbeletrýstyka, кра́сне письме́нствоkrásne pysʹménstvo
(archaic, uncountable)Literary studies, particularly literary aesthetics.
- creative writing valued for esthetic content
Translations
7 languagesOrigin
Borrowed from French belles-lettres (“fine writings”), a parallel construction with the beBorrowed from French belles-lettres (“fine writings”), a parallel construction with the beaux arts (“fine arts”). Littré considered the belles-lettres to embrace grammar, rhetoric, and poetry. Sense embracing all of the humanities under the influence of Latin literae humaniores.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Synonyms
2 synonyms- creative writing valued for esthetic content:belles lettres
Word family
3 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable