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What is the noun for knowledgeable? knowledgeableness looks awkward. Thanks!

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  • Probably not what you are after, but "literate" can be used as noun, e.g.: "But for the illiterates and even many literates, who throng the Collectorate seeking assistance, their services are indispensable".
    – Nico
    Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 16:43
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    @Nico Literate refers only to knowledge of written language, unlike knowledgeability, which refers to knowledge of whatever matter is at hand.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 16:45
  • Apparently, knowledgeableness is in the Oxford dictionaries
    – Nico
    Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 16:46
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    @Nico Knowlegeableness had a modest currency down to about 1950 but has since been supersededed by knowledgeability.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 16:49
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    By knowledgeable, I mean a little more than normal people, so that he can pass wisdom to others if he is willing to and know how to. I don't have the name of a specific person. It is just a general expectation.
    – Tim
    Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 16:50

2 Answers 2

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Neither is very common, but in general you'll be better off choosing "knowledgeability" over "knowledgeableness".

knowledgeableness vs. knowledgeability
Source: Google Ngram Viewer, "knowledgeability, knowledgeableness"

You could also simply refer to someone's knowledge. For instance, given the following choice:

  1. Pat has the knowledge to be helpful to new recruits.
  2. Pat has the knowledgeability to be helpful to new recruits.

I'd choose #1 every time. It's hard to imagine a scenario where it wouldn't be clearer to just say "knowledge". This makes sense, because that's where "knowledgeable" came from in the first place.

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I would go with 'learned' or 'educated', e.g. 'he was a very learned man'. (Note that there are two syllables in learned, which are both stressed, unlike when it is used as a verb).

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  • But one may be knowledgeable about many subjects--plumbing, for instance, or heavy metal--without deep learning or formal education.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 16:50
  • This is true, thanks for pointing that out. Perhaps it would be best instead to use the term 'expert on X' or 'expertise of X' instead, depending on what the context is.
    – Proofread My Essay
    Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 16:52
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    These are adjectives. Tim has asked for a noun.
    – Tyler James Young
    Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 18:28
  • Yes indeed Tyler, apologies, my mistake.
    – Proofread My Essay
    Commented Mar 10, 2014 at 13:06

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