character - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Ancient Greek -τήρ (-tḗr)

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”). Doublet of charakter.

character (countable and uncountable, plural characters)

  1. (countable) A being involved in the action of a story; a persona.
    Hyponyms: protagonist, main character, antagonist
    • 1695, John Dryden, A Parallel of Poetry and Painting:
      [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 …
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.
    • 2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits”, in The Onion AV Club‎[1], archived from the original on 29 April 2012:
      But Pirates! comes with all the usual Aardman strengths intact, particularly the sense that its characters and creators alike are too good-hearted and sweet to nitpick. The ambition is all in the craft rather than in the storytelling, but it’s hard to say no to the proficiency of that craft, or the mild good cheer behind it.
  2. (countable) A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; nature; phene.
    A single locus governing the petal colour character was detected on the linkage group A2.
    We were not able to ascertain the character of the relationship.
  3. (uncountable, countable) 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.
    • 1960 March, N. Caplan, “The Railway Member of Parliament”, in Railway Magazine, page 209:
      The North Staffordshire was always a railway of character from its formation in 1845, and the Railway Member identified with it from the start was also a character. John Lewis Ricardo was M.P. for Stoke-upon-Trent [_sic_] from 1841 to 1862.
  4. (uncountable) Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength.
    He has a great deal of character.
    "You may not like to eat liver," said Calvin's father, "but it builds character."
    • 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:
      Shepard: Are you attracted to other species?
      Kelly: Well, part of my job is predicting the motives and feelings of humans and aliens. Intimacy brings understanding.
      Kelly: And passion is nice wherever you find it. Character matters, not race or gender.
  5. (countable) A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma.
    Julius Caesar is a great historical character.
    That bloke is such a character.
    • 1960 March, N. Caplan, “The Railway Member of Parliament”, in Railway Magazine, page 209:
      The North Staffordshire was always a railway of character from its formation in 1845, and the Railway Member identified with it from the start was also a character. John Lewis Ricardo was M.P. for Stoke-upon-Trent [_sic_] from 1841 to 1862.
    • 1986, Jim Cash; Jack Epps, Jr.; Ehud Yonay, Top Gun‎[2], California: Paramount Pictures:
      STINGER: Don't screw around with me Maverick. You're a hell of an instinctive pilot. Maybe too good. I'd like to bust your butt but I can't. I got another problem here. I gotta send somebody from this squadron to Miramar. I gotta do something here, I still can't believe it. I gotta give you your dream shot, I'm gonna send you up against the best. You two characters are going to Top Gun.
  6. (countable) A written or printed symbol, or letter.
    • 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech: An Essay of Inquiry into the Natural Production of Letters: […], London: […] T. N[ewcomb] for J[ohn] Martyn printer to the R[oyal] Society, […], →OCLC:
      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, computing) One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character.
    • 2016 November 14, Rob Reed, “Everything You Need To Know About Emoji”, in Smashing Magazine‎[3], archived from the original on 12 February 2025:
      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.
    That old guy is a real character.
  11. (countable, mathematics) 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 {\displaystyle \mathbb {C} } {\displaystyle \mathbb {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
    in his character as a magistrate
  13. (countable, dated) The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation.
    a man's character for truth and veracity
    Her actions give her a bad character.
  1. (countable, dated) A reference given to a servant, attesting to their behaviour, competence, etc.
  2. (countable, obsolete) Personal appearance.

English terms starting with “character”

being in a story

distinguishing feature

complex of mental and ethical traits marking a person or a group

moral strength

notable or eccentric person

symbol or letter

(computing) basic element in a text string

(informal) unknown person

character (third-person singular simple present characters, present participle charactering, simple past and past participle charactered)

  1. (obsolete) To write (using characters); to describe.
    • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]:
      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.

From the Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr).

charactēr m (genitive charactēris); third declension

  1. branding iron
  2. brand (made by a branding iron)
  3. characteristic, mark, character, style
    Synonyms: ingenium, nātūra, habitus, mēns, indolēs

Third-declension noun.

character m (plural characteres)

  1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of caráter