clerisy

(klĕr'ĭ-sē)
n.
Educated people considered as a group; the literati.

[German Klerisei, clergy, from Medieval Latin clēricia, from Late Latin clēricus, priest. See clerk.]

(KLER-i-see)

noun
The well-educated class; the literati; the intelligentsia.

Etymology
From German Klerisei (clergy), from Medieval Latin clericia, from Late Latin clericus (cleric), from Greek klerikos (belonging to the clergy), from Greek kleros (inheritance)

Ironically, clerisy and clerk have branched out from the same root, that is also the source for clergy and cleric.

Usage
"The artist, the scholar, and, in general, the clerisy wins its way up into these places, and gets represented here, somewhat on this footing of conquest." — Ralph Waldo Emerson; Manners; 1844.

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An idea or proposal for a publicly endowed national class or order, in whom the culture and learning of a nation is embodied, a class or order composed not merely of theologians and divines but of non-sectarian thinkers capable of advancing learning in all branches of knowledge. This idea or proposal was first advanced in Coleridge's On the Constitution of the Church and State (1830), a work which also contained the suggestion that a few members of the clerisy should reside at university with the rest being distributed throughout the country. Also, incidentally, an idea quite strongly favoured in the Broad Church movement and one taken up enthusiastically by liberals such as John Stuart Mill who were permanently preoccupied with enhancing the role of intellectuals in politics.

— John Halliday

[Introduced by Coleridge to express a notion no longer associated with the clergy]
the educated and intellectual people considered collectively; the literati or intelligentsia

IN BRIEF: n. - An educated and intellectual elite.

Tutor's tip: This word was used in the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals.