Character

How to spell character

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce character

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does character mean?

1. nounThe combination of qualities and moral traits that define a person, or a person represented in a story.

Character in a sentence

• I admire her character.

• The main character of the novel is a detective.

Where does character come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word comes from the Greek kharakter, which originally meant an engraving tool and then the distinctive mark that such a tool stamped into metal, wax, or coins. That noun was built on the verb kharassein, meaning 'to scratch, engrave, or sharpen', so the earliest idea was literally a mark pressed into a surface. The sense widened from a physical imprint to the set of distinctive qualities that define a person, just as a stamp leaves a recognisable impression. English took it through Latin character and Old French caractere in the 1300s, and the spelling later drifted back toward the classical Greek form, which is why we write 'ch' for a hard 'k' sound. That same root survives in 'characteristic' and in the printing term for a single letter or symbol, and the unstressed middle vowel in char-AC-ter is the spot writers most often fumble.

How the word is built

• charact- (from Greek kharakter: an engraved mark, stamp)
• -er (agent/result suffix)