characteristic

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌkæɹəktəˈɹɪstɪk/, X-SAMPA: /%k{r\kt@"r\IstIk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

characteristic (comparative more characteristic, superlative most characteristic)

1. being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing

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

Bulgarian: характерен (bg), отличителен (bg) Catalan: característic (ca) Chinese: 特有 的, tèyǒu de Czech: charakteristický (cs) m. Dutch: kenmerkend (nl), karakteristiek (nl), idiosyncratisch (nl) Esperanto: karakteriza (eo) Finnish: ominainen (fi), luonteenomainen (fi), tunnusomainen (fi) French: caractéristique (fr) German: charakteristisch (de), bezeichnend (de), kennzeichnend (de), typisch (de)

Greek: χαρακτηριστικός (el) (charaktiristikós) m. Interlingua: characteristic (ia) Italian: caratteristica (it) Polish: charakterystyczny (pl) m. Portuguese: característico (pt) Romanian: caracteristic (ro) Serbian: osobina (sr) f., značajka (sr) f. Spanish: característico (es) Swedish: karakteristisk (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.

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 (sq) f. Arabic: صفة (ar) (ṣíffa) f. Bengali: বৈশিষ্ট্য (bn) (boishishţţô) Bulgarian: отличителна черта (bg) Catalan: característica (ca) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 特性 (zh) (tèxìng), 特質 (zh), 特质 (zh) (tèzhì) Czech: charakteristika (cs) f., vlastnost (cs) f. Danish: karakteristik (da) c. Dutch: trekje (nl) n., karakteristiek (nl) f. Esperanto: karakterizilo (eo) Extremaduran: caraiterística f. Finnish: tuntomerkki, erityispiirre, tunnusmerkki (fi)

German: Merkmal (de) n., Eigenschaft (de) f., Charakteristik (de) f., Eigenart (de) f. Greek: χαρακτηριστικό (el) (charaktiristikó) n. 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 (ru) (xaraktérnaja čertá) f., отличительная черта (ru) (otličítel’naja čertá) f., черта (ru) (čertá) f., особенность (ru) (osóbennost’) f. Spanish: característica (es) f. Swedish: karakteristikum (sv) n., (characteristics) karakteristik (sv) c.

integer part of a logarithm

Catalan: característica (ca) f. Finnish: karakteristika (fi)

German: Kennwert (de) n., Kenngröße (de) f., Charakteristik (de) f. Portuguese: característica (pt) f.

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. Ido: karakteristiko 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