characteristic

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χαρακτηριστικός (kharaktēristikos), from χαρακτηρίζω (kharaktērizō, “to designate by a characteristic mark”), from χαρακτήρ (kharaktēr, “a mark, character”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkʰæɹəktəˈɹɪstɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

characteristic (comparative more characteristic, superlative most characteristic)

1. Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 12, The Mirror and the Lamp:

     All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion […] such talk had been distressingly out of place.

Synonyms

• distinctive
• exclusive
• idiosyncratic
• indicative
• representative
• signature
• specific
• typical

Antonyms

• uncharacteristic
• untypical

Derived terms

• characteristic function
• characteristicness

Translations

being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing

• Asturian: carauterísticu
• Bulgarian: характерен (bg) (harakteren), отличителен (bg) (otličitelen)
• Catalan: característic
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 特性的 (zh) (tèxìng de), 特有的 (zh) (tèyǒu de)

• Czech: charakteristický m
• Dutch: kenmerkend (nl), karakteristiek (nl), idiosyncratisch (nl)
• Esperanto: karakteriza (eo)
• Finnish: ominainen (fi), luonteenomainen, tunnusomainen (fi)
• French: caractéristique (fr)
• Galician: característico
• Georgian: დამახასიათებელი (damaxasiat’ebeli)
• German: charakteristisch (de), bezeichnend (de), kennzeichnend, typisch (de)

• Greek: χαρακτηριστικός (el) m (charaktiristikós)
• Ido: karakteriziva (io), distingiva (io)
• Interlingua: characteristic
• Irish: aitreabúid f
• Italian: caratteristica (it)
• Jèrriais: caractéthistique
• Polish: charakterystyczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: característico (pt)
• Romanian: caracteristic (ro)
• Russian: характе́рный (ru) (xaraktérnyj), типи́чный (ru) (tipíčnyj), отличи́тельный (ru) (otličítelʹnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: osobina (sh) f, značajka (sh) f
• Spanish: característico (es)
• Swedish: karakteristisk (sv), kännetecknande (sv)

Noun

characteristic (plural characteristics)

1. a distinguishable feature of a person or thing
2. (mathematics) the integer part of a logarithm
3. (nautical) the distinguishing features of a navigational light on a lighthouse etc by which it can be identified (colour, pattern of flashes etc)
4. (algebra, field theory) The minimum number of times that the unit of a field must be added unto itself in order to yield that field's zero, or, if that minimum natural number does not exist, then (the integer) zero.

   A field's characteristic, if non-zero, must be a prime number.

Synonyms

• attribute
• idiosyncrasy
• mannerism
• quality
• tendency
• trademark
• trait
• See also Wikisaurus:characteristic

Derived terms

• defining characteristic

Related terms

• characteristically

See also

• mantissa

Translations

distinguishing feature

• Albanian: karakteristikë f
• Arabic: صفة f (ṣíffa)
• Asturian: carauterística f
• Bengali: বৈশিষ্ট্য (boishishţţô)
• Bulgarian: отличителна черта (otličitelna čerta)
• Catalan: característica f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 特性 (zh) (tèxìng), 特質 (zh), 特质 (zh) (tèzhì)

• Czech: charakteristika (cs) f, vlastnost (cs) f
• Danish: karakteristik c
• Dutch: trekje (nl) n, karakteristiek (nl) f
• Esperanto: karakterizilo
• Extremaduran: caraiterística f
• Finnish: tuntomerkki (fi), erityispiirre, tunnusmerkki (fi)
• Galician: característica (gl) f

• German: Merkmal (de) n, Eigenschaft (de) f, Charakteristik (de) f, Eigenart (de) f
• Greek: χαρακτηριστικό (el) n (charaktiristikó)
• Hebrew: סממן m (sam'mán)
• Ido: karakterizivo (io), traito (io), proprajo (io)
• Italian: caratteristica (it)
• Japanese: 特性 (ja) (とくせい, tokusei)
• Polish: cecha (pl) f
• Portuguese: característica (pt) f
• Romanian: caracteristică (ro)
• Russian: характерная черта f (xaraktérnaja čertá), отличительная черта f (otličítel’naja čertá), черта (ru) f (čertá), особенность (ru) f (osóbennost’)
• Spanish: característica (es) f
• Swedish: karakteristikum (sv) n, (characteristics) karakteristik (sv) c

integer part of a logarithm

• Catalan: característica f
• Finnish: karakteristika (fi)
• German: Kennwert n, Kenngröße f, Charakteristik (de) f

• Ido: karakteristiko (io)
• Portuguese: característica (pt) f
• Russian: характеристика (ru) f (xarakterístika)

distinguishing features of a navigational light

• German: Merkmal (de) n, Eigenschaft (de) f, Charakteristik (de) f, Eigenart (de) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: caractéristique f
• Interlingua: characteristica
• Spanish: característica f

External links

• characteristic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• characteristic in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911