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character

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character

  • /ˈkæ.ɹɪk.tə/ UK
  • /ˈkæɹ(ə)ktɚ/
  • /ˈkɛɹ(ə)ktɚ/

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek χαράσσω (kharássō)

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Hellenic *-tḗr

Ancient Greek -τήρ (-tḗr)

Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr)der.

Latin charactērder.

Old French caracterebor.

Middle English caracter

English character

From Middle English caracter, from Old French caractere, from Latin character, from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “type, nature, character”), from χαράσσω (kharássō, “to engrave”). Displaced native English thew from Old English þēaw (in the plural) and Old English hād (“person, character”). Doublet of charakter.

noun characters

  1. countable A being involved in the action of a story; a persona. [I]n a tragedy, or epick poem, the hero of the piece must be advanced foremost to the view of the reader or spectator; he must outshine the rest of all the characters; he must appear the prince of them, like the sun in the Copernican system, encompassed with the less noble planets …
  2. countable A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; nature; phene. A single locus governing the petal colour character was detected on the linkage group A2.
  3. countable, uncountable A complex of traits marking a person, group, breed, or type. A study of the suspect's character and his cast iron alibi ruled him out.
  4. uncountable Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength. He has a great deal of character.
  5. countable A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma. Julius Caesar is a great historical character.
  6. countable A written or printed symbol, or letter. It were much to be wished that there were throughout the world but one sort of character for each letter to express it to the eye.
  7. countable, dated Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the particular form of letters used by a person or people. an inscription in the Runic character
  8. countable, dated A secret cipher; a way of writing in code.
  9. countable One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character. We'll start at the beginning, with the basic building blocks not just of emoji, nor even digital communication, but of all written language: characters and character sets.
  10. countable, informal A person or individual, especially one who is unknown. We saw a shady character slinking out of the office with some papers.
  11. countable An assignment of complex numbers to each element of a group, in particular a finite abelian group. More precisely, a group homomorphism into the group of units of a field (usually ℂ).
  12. countable Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty. in the miserable character of a slave
  13. countable, dated The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation. a man's character for truth and veracity
  14. countable, dated A reference given to a servant, attesting to their behaviour, competence, etc.
  15. countable, obsolete Personal appearance.

verb characters · charactering · charactered

  1. obsolete To write (using characters); to describe. O Roſalind, theſe Trees ſhall be my Bookes, / And in their barkes my thoughts Ile charracter, / That euery eye, which in this Forreſt lookes, / Shall ſee thy vertue witneſt euery where.

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