The intelligentsia (from Russian: интеллигенция from Latin: intelligentia) is a social class of people engage in complex mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them (e.g., artists and school teachers). The term has been borrowed from the Russian language, a transliteration of "интеллигенция". Initially the term was applied mostly in the context of Russia and later Soviet Union, and had a narrower meaning based on a self-definition of a certain category of intellectuals.