learnings

Etymology
1484; early spellings include.

Noun

 * 1) * 1483,,  (translation of circa 1372, , 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.
 * The thre enseygnementes or lernynges whiche Cathon gaf to his sone.

Usage notes
The term learnings was not in common use in the 19th and 20th century, though the countable noun sense dates to Middle English (14th century; see ), 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 generally. It has found occasional use for centuries, including by Shakespeare, and parallel constructions are commonplace – compare and.

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, “things one learned” – or simply – , , , and.

Most major dictionaries do not label the word as uncountable.