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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

character.

A being involved in the action of a story; a persona.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkæ.ɹɪk.tə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkæɹ(ə)ktɚ//ˈkɛɹ(ə)ktɚ/
  1. A being involved in the action of a story; a persona.

    countable
  2. A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; nature; phene.

    countable
    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. A complex of traits marking a person, group, breed, or type.

    countable · uncountable
    A study of the suspect's character and his cast iron alibi ruled him out.
  4. Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength.

    uncountable
    He has a great deal of character.
    "You may not like to eat liver," said Calvin's father, "but it builds character."
  5. A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma.

    countable
    Julius Caesar is a great historical character.
    That bloke is such a character.
  6. A written or printed symbol, or letter.

    countable
  7. Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the particular form of letters used by a person or people.

    countable · dated
    an inscription in the Runic character
  8. A secret cipher; a way of writing in code.

    countable · dated
  9. One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character.

    countable
  10. A person or individual, especially one who is unknown.

    countable · informal
    We saw a shady character slinking out of the office with some papers.
    That old guy is a real character.
  11. 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).

    countable
  12. Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty.

    countable
    in the miserable character of a slave
    in his character as a magistrate
  13. The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation.

    countable · dated
    a man's character for truth and veracity
    Her actions give her a bad character.
  14. A reference given to a servant, attesting to their behaviour, competence, etc.

    countable · dated
  15. Personal appearance.

    countable · obsolete
Where this word 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.

verb/ˈkæ.ɹɪk.tə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkæɹ(ə)ktɚ//ˈkɛɹ(ə)ktɚ/
  1. To write (using characters); to describe.

    obsolete
Where this word 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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.