char

See also Char

English

Alternative forms

• charr, chare

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʃɑː/, /tʃɑɹ/ (except for the etymology 4 in computing, see below)
• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)

Etymology 1

From Middle English cherre (“odd job”), from Old English ċierr (“a turn, change, time, occasion, affair, business”), from ċierran (“to turn, change, turn oneself, go, come, proceed, turn back, return, regard, translate, persuade, convert, be converted, agree to, submit, make to submit, reduce”), from Proto-Germanic *karzijanan (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *gers- (“to bend, turn”). Cognate with Dutch keer (“a time, turn, occasion”), German Kehre (“a turn, bend”). Compare Sanskrit "char" (to do), "kri" (to do), "kar" (to perform), and Persian کار (kar, work). More at chore, ajar.

Noun

char (plural chars)

1. (obsolete) a time; a turn or occasion
2. (obsolete) a turn of work; a labour or item of business
3. an odd job, a chore or piece of housework
4. a charlady, a woman employed to do housework; cleaning lady

   “I had to scrub the kitchen today, because the char couldn’t come”

Synonyms

• charlady
• charwoman
• cleaning lady
• cleaning woman

Translations

cleaning lady

Bulgarian: чистачка (bg) f. Finnish: taloudenhoitaja (fi) German: Putzfrau (de) f.

Greek: παραδουλεύτρα (el) (paraduleftra) f., καθαρίστρια (el) (katharistria) f. Russian: уборщица (ru) (ubórščitsa) f.

Verb

char (third-person singular simple present chars, present participle charring, simple past and past participle charred)

1. (obsolete) to turn, especially away or aside.
2. to work, especially to do housework.
   • 1893, She explained that she was the commissionaire's wife, who did the charing, and I gave her the order for the coffee. — Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Naval Treaty’ (Norton 2005, p.677)

Etymology 2

Origin unknown, perhaps from Celtic.

Noun

char (plural chars or char)

1. One of the several species of fishes of the genus Salvelinus or the brook trout. Scientific name: Salvelinus fontinalis.

   “Among other native delicacies, they give you fresh char.”

Translations

fish

Finnish: puronieriä (fi) German: Saibling (de) m. Russian: ручьевая форель (ru) (ručjevája forél') f., форель (ru) (forél') f., пеструшка (ru) (pestrúška) f.

Swedish: röding (sv) c.

Etymology 3

Back-formation from charcoal.

Verb

char (third-person singular simple present chars, present participle charring, simple past and past participle charred)

1. (ergative) To burn something to charcoal.
2. To burn slightly or superficially so as to affect colour.

Synonyms

• coal
• blacken, scorch, sear, singe

Translations

to burn something to charcoal

Bulgarian: овъглявам (bg) Finnish: hiiltää (fi) French: carboniser (fr), calciner (fr)

German: ankohlen (de), verkohlen (de) Greek: καρβουνιάζω (el) (karvouniázo) Russian: обугливать (ru) (obúglivat'), обуглить (ru) (obúglit')

to burn slightly

Bulgarian: обгарям (bg) Finnish: hiillyttää (fi), ruskistaa (fi)

German: ansengen (de), versengen (de) Russian: чернить, коптить, обжигать, опалять

Noun

char (plural chars or char)

1. A charred substance

Synonyms

• charcoal

Translations

a charred substance

Finnish: puuhiili (fi), hiili (fi) German: Kohle (de) f.

Greek: άνθρακας (anthrakas) m., κάρβουνο (karvuno) n. Russian: уголь (ru) m.

Etymology 4

Abbreviation of character

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʃɑː/, /tʃɑɹ/ (most common)
• IPA: /kɛə/, /kɛɹ/ (US only: from character, just like care, less common)
• IPA: /kɑː/, /kɑɹ/ (just like car, less common)

Noun

char (plural chars)

1. (computing, programming) A character (text element such as a letter or symbol), whose data size is commonly one byte.
   • 1997, Cay S Horstmann, Gary Cornell, Core Java 1.1: Fundamentals

     Chars can be considered as integers if need be without an explicit cast.

   • 1998, John R Hubbard, Schaum's Outline of Theory and Problems of Fundamentals of Computing with C++

     Then since each char occupies one byte, these four bytes represent the three letters 'B', 'y', 'e', and the null character NUL.

   • 2000, Ken Brownsey, The essence of data structures using C++

     Thus string variables are pointer variables to chars.

Derived terms

• signed char
• unsigned char

Related terms

• byte
• double
• float
• int
• long
• short

Etymology 5

From Mandarin chah or cha

Noun

char (uncountable)

1. (UK, Commonwealth of Nations) tea (drink)

Anagrams

• arch, arch., Rach, rach

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Anglo-Norman

Etymology

Latin carō

Noun

char f. (oblique plural chars, nominative singular char, nominative plural chars)

1. flesh

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Esperanto

Conjunction

char

1. H-system spelling of ĉar.

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French

Etymology

Latin carrus, a loan from Transalpine Gaulish.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃaʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

char m. (plural chars)

1. chariot
2. (military) tank
3. (Canada) car (US), auto (UK)

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Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA: [xaɾˠ]

Particle

char (negative)

1. not

Usage notes

Used only in some varieties of Ulster Irish. Used only with the past tense of regular verbs and some irregular verbs. Triggers lenition of the following verb.

• char dhún mé é – "I did not close it"
• char chuala mé é – "I did not hear it"

Related terms

• cha (used before other tenses)

Synonyms

• níor (used in Munster Irish, Connacht Irish, and some varieties of Ulster Irish)

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Old French

Alternative forms

• car
• carn (early Old French)
• charn (early Old French)

Etymology

Latin carō

Noun

char m. (oblique plural chars, nominative singular chars, nominative plural char)

1. (anatomy) flesh
   • 12^th Century, Unknown, Raoul de Cambrai:

     Desor l'espaule li fist la char trenchier

     under his should, he cut into his flesh

Descendants

• French: chair

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Romani

Noun

char f. (plural chara)

1. grass
2. field

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Romansch

Etymology

From Latin cārus.

Adjective

char m. (f. chara, m. pl. chars, f. pl. charas)

1. dear