character
Pluralcharacters
Pluralcharacters
Formscharacters, charactering, charactered
- 1A being who takes part in the action of a story, such as a person or creature in a novel, film, or play.
Every character in the novel changes by the final chapter.
The writer based two minor characters on people from her hometown.
UsageActors play characters; common phrases are the main character and a minor character.
- 2The combination of traits and qualities that makes a person, group, place, or thing distinct.
Decades of immigration shaped the character of the port city.
Each region of the country has its own culinary character.
UsageOften followed by of: the character of a city. In character means typical of someone; out of character, not typical.
Similarnature, personality, identity, spirit
- 3A single letter, digit, punctuation mark or other symbol used in writing or printing, or stored as one unit of text by a computer.
The ancient tablet was covered in characters no scholar could read.
Print the first character of each name in capital letters.
UsageOften for scripts: Chinese characters, Greek characters.
Note
William Holder's Elements of Speech (1669) already wishes for "one sort of character for each letter."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- William Holder wrote Elements of Speech, published in 1669. wellcomecollection.org
- Holder wished for one sort of character for each letter. en.wiktionary.org
- 4A distinguishing feature or trait; one of the qualities that marks the nature of a thing.
The leaf shape is a reliable character for telling the two trees apart.
Botanists recorded the characters that varied across the population.
Similartrait, feature, attribute
Note
Geneticists and taxonomists use the word as a countable technical term: a character is one observable feature, such as petal color, that can be compared across individuals or species, whether one gene or many lie behind it. Biology also calls such a feature a phene. A thing's nature as a whole, as in the character of the relationship, is the broader sense instead.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- A biological character is an observable feature used in describing and distinguishing organisms. employees.csbsju.edu
- Petal color is an example of a biological character. en.wikipedia.org
- A biological character need not be controlled by a single gene. genome.gov
- An observable biological feature can also be called a phene. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- 5Strength of mind, resolution, and moral firmness; the inner qualities that make a person independent and principled.
The crisis tested the character of everyone on the team.
He showed great character by standing up for his unpopular friend.
UsageCommon in show great character, build character, and a test of character.
- 6A striking or unusual individual marked by colorful, memorable traits, especially great charm or charisma.
The old fisherman was such a character that everyone in town knew his name.
Every village seems to have its share of beloved local characters.
UsageUsually a real character, quite a character, such a character.
Similareccentric, personality, original
Note
Praise with a wink: calling someone such a character or a real character marks them as memorable, often eccentric, and usually liked. Said of a famous figure such as Julius Caesar, it stresses a vivid, larger-than-life personality. Context separates it from the neutral 'person' meaning. In a shady character, character simply means 'person', while a real character is someone worth remembering.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Julius Caesar is a famous historical figure. en.wikipedia.org
- A shady character is an untrustworthy or disreputable person. The noun character means 'person' here, but shady adds a negative judgment. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 7A person or individual, especially one whose identity is unknown to the speaker.
A suspicious character had been loitering near the bank all morning.
Two rough characters followed us out of the bar.
UsageMostly with a negative adjective: a suspicious character, shady characters.
Similarindividual, person, type, customer
- 8The general estimate or opinion that people form of a person or thing; reputation.
Gossip threatened to ruin her character within a single season.
The firm guarded its character for honest dealing above all else.
Similarreputation, name, standing
Note
Reputation as other people hand it out: one gives a person or place a good or bad character. Addison's Remarks on Several Parts of Italy (1705) notes a passage much mended since Seneca "gave so bad a character of it." A character for truth names what someone is known for. The sense is dated, and reputation is the modern word.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Joseph Addison wrote Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, first published in 1705. en.wiktionary.org
- Addison describes a passage as much improved since Seneca disparaged it, using the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
- 9The position, rank, or capacity in which someone acts; their conduct with respect to a particular office or duty.
Acting in his character as trustee, he approved the sale of the land.
She addressed the court in her character of legal guardian.
UsageUsed as in someone's character as or of a role. Everyday English says in someone's capacity as.
- 10A written reference given to a servant, attesting to their conduct, honesty, and competence.
A servant dismissed without a character faced real hardship finding new work.
The housekeeper carried a glowing character from her previous employer.
Similarreference, testimonial
Note
Domestic service turned reputation into a document. A departing servant asked a former employer for a character, and going without one could make new work hard to find. It is the 'reputation' meaning put on paper. The use is dated. Reference or testimonial now does the work, and in modern writing the word belongs to historical settings.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Domestic servants' characters could be written references supplied by their employers. gutenberg.org
- Servants seeking new employment approached their former employers to arrange references. gutenberg.org
- Lacking a character could make obtaining another domestic-service position difficult. hertsmemories.org.uk
- The reference sense represents a documented assessment of reputation. en.wiktionary.org
- 11A particular style of writing or printing; the form of letters used by a person or people.
The pamphlet was set in a plain roman character, still easy on the eye after three centuries.
You know the character to be your brother's?
c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”Similarscript, hand, lettering, handwriting
Note
This older use names a whole hand or script, not a single mark. In King Lear, Gloucester asks Edmund "You know the character to be your brother's?", meaning the handwriting on a letter. The phrase an inscription in the Runic character shows the same use for a people's script. In ordinary modern prose, hand, handwriting or script are the safer choices, and this use now sounds deliberately old.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- In this sense, character denotes handwriting or a script rather than an individual written symbol. en.wiktionary.org
- In King Lear, Gloucester addresses Edmund with the exact quoted question. shakespeare.mit.edu
- Character in Gloucester's question means the handwriting on the letter. shakespeare.mit.edu
- The example an inscription in the Runic character illustrates character meaning a script. en.wiktionary.org
- 12A secret cipher or system of writing used to keep a message hidden from others.
Note
Secret writing once borrowed the word: a character could be a private code, a system of symbols only its keeper could read. It sits close to the 'handwriting' sense, since both name a way of writing rather than a single letter. The use is dated. Today cipher or code says the same thing without puzzling a modern reader.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Character historically could mean a secret cipher or system of coded writing. en.wiktionary.org
- Character also had a handwriting sense, describing a way of writing rather than an individual letter. en.wiktionary.org
- 13A person's outward look or physical appearance, as presented to others.
Note
Modern readers will almost certainly misread this obsolete meaning. The word could once name someone's outward look, but it has since turned inward, toward traits and moral strength. Used this way now, it would be taken as the sum of a person's qualities. For appearance, say looks, bearing or appearance instead.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Character formerly meant a person's outward appearance. en.wiktionary.org
- 14To write or inscribe by means of letters; to set down or describe in writing.
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.
c. 1598, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”Note
The verb stays closest to the word's oldest image. The Greek root meant "I engrave," and in Shakespeare's As You Like It a lover vows to character his thoughts in the bark of trees. Today the verb is obsolete and reads as a deliberate period touch. Its past form is charactered. For ordinary prose, inscribe or write down says the same thing without the echo of the noun for a letter.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The word's ancestry involves engraving, supporting the note's historical image. en.wikipedia.org
- The underlying Greek verb χαράσσω means to engrave; its first-person singular form translates as 'I engrave'. en.wiktionary.org
- In Shakespeare's As You Like It, Orlando declares that he will inscribe his thoughts in tree bark. folger.edu
- The verb's past tense is charactered. en.wiktionary.org
- 15In group theory, a homomorphism from a group to the nonzero complex numbers under multiplication, or more generally the trace function of a group representation.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
Ancient Greek χαράσσω (kharássō, "I engrave") gave χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, "type, nature, character"), which Latin took over as character. From there it passed into Old French as caractere and then into Middle English.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- Ancient Greek χαράσσω (kharássō) means “I engrave”. en.wiktionary.org
- χαρακτήρ derives from χαράσσω. en.wiktionary.org
- Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr) can mean “type, nature, character”. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin borrowed Greek χαρακτήρ as character. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin character passed into Old French as caractere. en.wiktionary.org
- Old French caractere passed into Middle English. en.wiktionary.org