literate

adj

1. Able to read and write; having literacy.

   “Intelligence tests are biased toward the literate.”

2. Knowledgeable in literature, writing; literary; well-read.

   “The reason literature plays a unique role in any literate culture is its longevity.”

3. Which is used in writing (of a language or dialect).

   “The Mongol emperor Kublai Khan even commissioned an alphabetic script for his empire, to be used officially for all its literate languages, Mongolian, Chinese, Turkic and Persian.”

4. (broadly)Able to understand and evaluate something.

   “I don’t have a college degree. I was never a standout student. And yet, I became financially literate—not just in my personal life, but in running a small company.”

noun

1. A person who is able to read and write.
2. (historical)A person who was educated but had not taken a university degree; especially a candidate to take holy orders.