A scholar is a person who studies a subject deeply, especially at a high academic level, and often does research.
From Old English “scolere” meaning “student,” from Latin “scholaris” meaning “of a school,” from Greek “scholē” meaning “leisure, later study.” The idea was that serious study came from having time free from work.
Originally, “school” and “scholar” come from a word for “leisure,” because only people with free time could afford to study. Learning was once a luxury of those who weren’t busy surviving every day.
For centuries, ‘scholar’ implicitly referred to men in many institutions where women were excluded from formal education and academic posts. Women scholars often published under male or ambiguous names and were omitted from canonical lists.
Use ‘scholar’ as a fully gender-neutral term and avoid assuming a scholar’s gender; name women and nonbinary scholars explicitly where their work has been overlooked.
["researcher","academic"]
Women scholars across disciplines have produced foundational work—often without recognition or rank equivalent to male peers—so citing and naming them helps correct historical exclusion.
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