behavior

See also: behaviour

English

Alternative forms

• behaviour (British)
• behavoure, behavier, behavor, behavour (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English behavoure, behaver, from behave, with -ior apparently in imitation of English havior, haviour, havour. Compare Scots havings (“behavior”), from have (“to behave”). Displaced Old English ġebǣru.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɪˈheɪvjɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɪˈheɪvjə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvjə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: be‧ha‧vior

Noun

behavior (usually uncountable, plural behaviors) (American spelling)

1. (uncountable) Human conduct relative to social norms.
   • 2014 September 23, A teacher, “Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents”, in The Guardian:

     Teachers will probably be on their best behaviour for your visit – but don't be upset if they don't even notice you; they've got enough going on.

2. (uncountable) The way a living creature behaves or acts generally.
3. (uncountable, informal) A state of probation about one's conduct.

   He was on his best behavior when her family visited.

4. (countable) An instance of the way a living creature behaves.
5. (countable, uncountable, biology, psychology) Observable response produced by an organism.
6. (uncountable) The way a device or system operates.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to "behavior": human, animal, physical, chemical, mechanical, electrical, organizational, corporate, social, collective, parental, interpersonal, sexual, criminal, appropriate, inappropriate, correct, incorrect, right, wrong, good, bad, acceptable, unacceptable, poor, ethical, unethical, moral, immoral, responsible, irresponsible, normal, odd, deviant, abnormal, violent, abusive, aggressive, offensive, defensive, rude, stupid, undesirable, verbal, nonverbal, learned, professional, unprofessional, adaptive, compulsive, questionable, assertive, disgusting, self-destructive, surreal.

Derived terms

• behavioral
• behavioralism
• behavioralist
• behavioral science
• behaviorism
• behaviorist
• behavioristic
• behaviormetric
• behaviormetrics
• behavior pattern
• health behavior
• human behavior
• ialectical behavior therapy
• ideal-seeking behavior
• photobehavior
• routine response behavior

 

Related terms

• behave

Translations

way an animal or human behaves or acts

• Albanian: sjellje (sq) f
• Arabic: سُلُوك‎ m (sulūk), تَصَرُّف‎ m (taṣarruf)

  Gulf Arabic: سلوك‎ m (silūk), اسلوب‎ (islūb)

• Armenian: վարք (hy) (varkʿ)
• Assamese: ব্যৱহাৰ (byowohar), আচৰণ (asoron)
• Azerbaijani: qılıq, davranış (az), rəftar (az)
• Belarusian: паво́дзіны f pl (pavódziny)
• Bengali: আচরণ (bn) (acoron), সুলুক (śuluk)
• Bulgarian: поведе́ние (bg) n (povedénie), държа́ние (bg) n (dǎržánie)
• Burmese: အပြုအမူ (my) (a.pru.a.mu), အချိုး (my) (a.hkyui:)
• Catalan: conducta (ca) f, comportament (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 行為／行为 (hang⁴ wai⁴)

  Mandarin: 行為／行为 (zh) (xíngwéi)

  Min Nan: 行為／行为 (zh-min-nan) (hêng-ûi)

• Czech: chování (cs) n, jednání (cs) n
• Danish: opførsel (da) c, adfærd
• Dutch: gedrag (nl) n, gedragingen (nl) pl
• Esperanto: konduto (eo), agmaniero
• Estonian: käitumine (et)
• Finnish: käytös (fi), käyttäytyminen (fi)
• French: comportement (fr) m
• Galician: comportamento (gl) m
• Georgian: ქცევა (ka) (kceva), საქციელი (sakcieli)
• German: Verhalten (de) n, Benehmen (de) n, Betragen (de) n, Verhaltensweise (de) f, Gebaren (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌿𐍃𐌼𐌴𐍄 n (usmēt)
• Greek: συμπεριφορά (el) f (symperiforá)
• Gujarati: આચરણ n (ācaraṇ)
• Hebrew: הִתְנַהֲגוּת‎ (he) f (hitnahagút)
• Hindi: बर्ताव (hi) m (bartāv), व्यवहार (hi) m (vyavhār), सलूक (hi) m (salūk)
• Hungarian: magatartás (hu), viselkedés (hu), magaviselet (hu)
• Icelandic: hegðun (is) f
• Interlingua: comportamento
• Irish: iompar m, iompraíocht f
• Italian: comportamento (it) m
• Japanese: 振る舞い (ja) (ふるまい, furumai), 行儀 (ja) (ぎょうぎ, gyōgi), 行動 (ja) (こうどう, kōdō)
• Kazakh: мінез-құлық (mınez-qūlyq)
• Khmer: ចរិយា (km) (caʼreyaa), កិរិយា (km) (keriyaa), ចរិត (km) (caʼrət)
• Korean: 행위(行爲) (ko) (haeng'wi), 행동(行動) (ko) (haengdong), 거동(擧動) (ko) (geodong)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ڕەفتار‎ (reftar)

  Northern Kurdish: reftar (ku)

• Kyrgyz: жүрүм-турум (jürüm-turum), жүрүш-туруш (jürüş-turuş)
• Lao: ການປະພຶດ (lo) (kān pa phưt)
• Latin: actio (la), actus (la)
• Latvian: uzvedība f
• Lithuanian: elgesys m
• Macedonian: однесување n (odnesuvanje)
• Malay: perilaku
• Malayalam: സ്വഭാവം (ml) (svabhāvaṁ), പെരുമാറ്റം (ml) (perumāṟṟaṁ)
• Maori: whanonga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oppførsel, adferd m or f

• Old English: ġebǣru f
• Persian: رفتار‎ (fa) (raftâr), سلوک‎ (fa) (soluk)
• Polish: zachowanie (pl) n, behawior (pl) m
• Portuguese: comportamento (pt) m, conduta (pt) f
• Romanian: comportament (ro) n
• Russian: поведе́ние (ru) n (povedénije)
• Sanskrit: नीति (sa) f (nīti)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пона́ша̄ње n

  Roman: ponášānje (sh) n

• Sinhalese: හැසිරීම n (hæsirīma)
• Slovak: vystupovanie n, správanie n, chovanie n
• Slovene: obnašanje n, vedenje n
• Spanish: comportamiento (es) m, conducta (es) f, proceder (es) m
• Swedish: beteende (sv) n, uppförande (sv) n
• Sylheti: ꠛꠦꠛꠀꠞ (beboar)
• Tagalog: ugali
• Tajik: рафтор (tg) (raftor), кирдор (kirdor), сулук (suluk)
• Tatar: тотыш (tt) (totış)
• Telugu: ప్రవర్తన (te) (pravartana)
• Thai: พฤติกรรม (th) (prʉ́t-dtì-gam), จริต (th) (jà-rìt), กิริยา (th) (gì-rí-yaa), ประพฤติ (th) (bprà-prʉ́t), จริยา (th) (jà-rí-yaa)
• Tocharian B: spārttalyñe
• Tok Pisin: pasin (tpi)
• Turkish: davranış (tr), tutum (tr)
• Turkmen: häsiýet, boluş (tk)
• Ukrainian: поведі́нка f (povedínka)
• Urdu: سلوک‎ m (salūk)
• Uyghur: قىلىق‎ (qiliq)
• Uzbek: qiliq (uz), xulq-odat, fe'latvor, xulq (uz)
• Vietnamese: hành vi (vi)
• Yiddish: אויפֿפֿיר‎ (oyffir)

way matter or systems behave

• Arabic: سُلُوك‎ (sulūk)
• Bengali: আচরণ (bn) (acoron)
• Breton: emzalc'h (br) m, doare d'ober m
• Bulgarian: поведе́ние (bg) n (povedénie)
• Catalan: comportament (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 行為／行为 (zh) (xíngwéi)

• Czech: chování (cs) n
• Danish: opførsel (da) c
• Dutch: gedrag (nl) n, gedragingen (nl) f pl
• Finnish: käytös (fi), käyttäytyminen (fi)
• French: comportement (fr) m, conduite (fr) f
• German: Verhalten (de) n, Betragen (de) n, Benehmen (de) n, Verhaltensweise (de) f, Führung (de) f
• Greek: συμπεριφορά (el) f (symperiforá)
• Hebrew: הִתְנַהֲגוּת‎ (he) f (hitnahagút)
• Hungarian: működés (hu)
• Indonesian: tingkah laku (id), perilaku (id), sifat (id), kebiasaan
• Irish: iompraíocht f
• Italian: comportamento (it) m, condotta (it) f
• Japanese: 振舞い (ja) (ふるまい, furumai), 行儀 (ja) (ぎょうぎ, gyōgi), 行動 (ja) (こうどう, kōdō), 反応 (ja) (はんのう, hannō)
• Korean: 행동 (ko) (haengdong)
• Maltese: mġiba f
• Maori: whanonga
• Norwegian: oppførsel, oppførsel
• Polish: zachowanie (pl) n, postępowanie (pl) n, maniery (pl) pl
• Portuguese: comportamento (pt) m
• Romanian: comportare (ro) f, comportament (ro) n, purtare (ro) f
• Russian: поведе́ние (ru) n (povedénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: dol a-mach m, giùlan m
• Spanish: comportamiento (es) m
• Swahili: tabia (sw)
• Swedish: beteende (sv) n
• Telugu: ప్రవర్తన (te) (pravartana), నడత (te) (naḍata)
• Turkish: davranış (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

in biology and psychology

• Finnish: käyttäytyminen (fi)
• Polish: behawior (pl) m, zachowanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: comportamento (pt) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} سُلُوك‎ (sulūk)
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} emzalc'h (br) m, ^{(please verify)} doare d'ober m
• French: ^{(please verify)} comportement (fr) m
• German: ^{(please verify)} Verhalten (de) n, ^{(please verify)} Betragen (de) n, ^{(please verify)} Benehmen (de) n, ^{(please verify)} Verhaltensweise (de) f, ^{(please verify)} Führung (de) f
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} tingkah laku (id), ^{(please verify)} perilaku (id), ^{(please verify)} sifat (id), ^{(please verify)} kebiasaan (id)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} comportamento (it) m
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 振舞い (ja) (ふるまい, furumai), ^{(please verify)} 行儀 (ja) (ぎょうぎ, gyōgi), ^{(please verify)} 行動 (ja) (こうどう, kōdō), ^{(please verify)} 反応 (ja) (はんのう, hannō)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 행동 (ko) (haengdong)
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} elgesys m
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} beteende (sv) n, ^{(please verify)} uppförande (sv)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} davranış (tr)

Further reading

• "behavior" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 43.
• “behavior”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “behavior”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.