learnings

English

Etymology

1484; early spellings include lernynges.

Noun

learnings

1. (proscribed) plural of learning
   • 1483, William Caxton, The Book of the Knight of the Tower (translation of circa 1372, Geoffroy IV de la Tour Landry, Livre pour l'enseignement de ses filles du Chevalier de La Tour Landry), Chapter cxxxvii (heading):

     The thre enseygnementes or lernynges whiche Cathon gaf to his sone.

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], line 43:

     … The King he takes the babe
     To his protection, calls him Posthumus Leonatus,
     Breeds him and makes him of his bed-chamber,
     Puts to him all the learnings that his time
     Could make him the receiver of; …

   • 2007 April 5, Stuart Elliott, “Online Experiment for Print Magazine”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     “We’ll take the learnings and apply them to the rest of our business.”

Usage notes

The term learnings was not in common use in the 19th and 20th century, though the countable noun sense learning (“thing learned”) dates to Middle English (14th century; see leornyng), and the plural learnings to Early Modern English. Note that early use of learnings often have the sense or connotation “teachings” (see examples above), as was the case of learn generally. It has found occasional use for centuries, including by Shakespeare, and parallel constructions are commonplace – compare teachings and findings.

However, from circa 2000 it became a buzzword in business speak, particularly in constructions such as “key learnings” or “apply these learnings”; this was preceded by occasional educational use from the 1950s. Some disapprove of this, and it sounds ungrammatical enough to be used as an example of broken English, as in the comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006). Suggested alternatives include lessons learned, “things one learned” – or simply lessons – discoveries, findings, insights, and takeaways.

Most major dictionaries do not label the word as uncountable.

Synonyms

• lessons learned

Coordinate terms

• teachings

Further reading

• Guide to Grammar and Writing, Capital Community College Foundation (see Fri, May 30, 2003)
• “What the heck are “learnings”?”, Maeve Maddox
• Plural of “learning”, English Stack Exchange
• Learnings, Wordreference.com
• “‘Learnings’ Is A Stupid, Stupid Word”, Jeffrey McManus