Charles

See also: charles

English

Etymology

From the French Charles, from the Old High German Karl, from the Proto-Germanic *karlaz (“person, free man”); compare the English word churl and the German Kerl.

Proper noun

Charles

1. A male given name.
   • 1599 William Shakespeare, King Henry V, Act I, Scene II:

     Charles the Great / Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French / Beyond the river Sala, in the year / Eight hundred five.

   • 1844 Edgar Allan Poe: Thou Art the Man:

     - - - there never was any person named Charles who was not an open, manly, honest, good-natured, and frank-hearted fellow, with a rich, clear, voice, that did you good to hear it, and an eye that looked at you always straight at the face, as much as to say: "I have a clear conscience myself, am afraid of no man, and am altogether above doing a mean action." And thus all the hearty, careless,'walking gentlemen' of the stage are very certain to be called Charles. ( Note: Charles turns out to be the villain of this story.)

   • 1988 Ed McBain: The House That Jack Built: page 212:

     - - - spoke the way the English do, funny, you know? His name was Roger, I think. Or Nigel. Something like that." "How about Charles?" "Charles? Well, yes, it could have been.Charles does sound English, doesn't it? Their prince is named Charles, isn't he?"

2. A patronymic surname​.

Usage notes

Common given name since the Middle Ages.

Related terms

• diminutives: Charley, Charlie, Chuck, Chas, Chip
• variants: Carl, Carroll, Karl, Cathal
• feminine forms: Carla, Carly, Carol, Carole, Carolina, Caroline, Callie, Carrie, Charlene, Charlotte

Translations

given name

• Arabic: تشارلز m (tšārlz)
• Bengali: চার্লস (charlôs)
• Breton: Charlez (br) m
• Catalan: Carles (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 查理 (Chálǐ), 查爾斯 (zh), 查尔斯 (Chá'ěrsī)

• Czech: Karel (cs) m
• Danish: Karl, Carl
• Dutch: Karel (nl) m, Charel
• Esperanto: Karlo
• Estonian: Kaarel
• Finnish: Kaarle (fi), Kaarlo (fi)
• French: Charles (fr)
• German: Karl (de)
• Greek: Κάρολος (el) m (Károlos)
• Greenlandic: Kaali, Kaarali
• Hawaiian: Kale
• Hebrew: צ'ארלס
• Hindi: चार्ल्स (cārls)
• Hungarian: Károly (hu)
• Icelandic: Karl (is)
• Inuktitut: ᑦᓴᕐᓕᔅ (tsarlis)
• Irish: Séarlas m

• Italian: Carlo (it) m
• Japanese: チャールズ (Chāruzu)
• Korean: 찰스 (Chalseu)
• Latin: Carolus (la)
• Latvian: Kārlis m
• Lithuanian: Karolis m
• Macedonian: Чарлс m (Charls)
• Maltese: Karlu m, Karmenu m, Karmena f
• Manx: Çhalse m
• Norman: Charles m, Charlot m
• Norwegian: Karl (no)
• Persian: چارلز (fa) (Czarlz)
• Polish: Karol (pl) m
• Portuguese: Carlos (pt) m
• Romanian: Carol
• Russian: Карл m (Karl), Чарльз m (Čarlʹz) (transliteration)
• Serbo-Croatian: Charles m, Карло
• Slovak: Karol m
• Slovene: Kárel m
• Spanish: Carlos (es) m
• Swedish: Karl (sv)
• Welsh: Siarl m

Anagrams

• larches

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French

Proper noun

Charles m

1. A male given name, cognate to English Charles

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Norman

Proper noun

Charles m

1. A male given name.

Synonyms

• Charlot

Related terms

• Tchèrli

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Old French

Alternative forms

• Carles
• Karles

Proper noun

Charles m (nominative singular Charles)

1. A male given name, cognate to English Charles

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Swedish

Proper noun

Charles

1. A male given name borrowed from English and French.