different between birth vs character

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: bûth, IPA^(key): /b???/, verb also: IPA^(key): /b??ð/
• (US) enPR: bûrth, IPA^(key): /b??/, verb also: IPA^(key): /b?ð/
• Rhymes: -??(?)?
• Homophone: berth

Etymology 1

From Middle English birthe (1250), from earlier burthe, burde, from Old Norse burðr, byrd (Old Swedish byrth, Swedish börd), replacing Old English ?ebyrd (rare variant byrþ), equivalent to bear +? -th (compare also berth). The Old Norse is from Proto-Germanic *burdiz (compare Old Frisian berde, berd); Old English ?ebyrd is from prefixed *gaburþiz (compare Dutch geboorte, German Geburt), from Proto-Indo-European *b?r?tis (compare Latin fors (“luck”), Old Irish brith), from *b?er- (“to carry, bear”). More at bear.

Noun

birth (countable and uncountable, plural births)

1. (uncountable) The process of childbearing; the beginning of life.
2. (countable) An instance of childbirth.

3. (countable) A beginning or start; a point of origin.

4. (uncountable) The circumstances of one's background, ancestry, or upbringing.
5. That which is born.
6. Misspelling of berth.

Antonyms

• (beginning of life): death

Translations

Adjective

birth (not comparable)

1. A familial relationship established by childbirth.

   Her birth father left when she was a baby; she was raised by her mother and stepfather.

Synonyms

• biological, blood, consanguineous

Etymology 2

From Middle English birthen, birðen, from the noun (see above).

Verb

birth (third-person singular simple present births, present participle birthing, simple past and past participle birthed)

1. (dated or regional) To bear or give birth to (a child).
2. (figuratively) To produce, give rise to.

Usage notes

• The term give birth (to) is much more common, especially in literal use.

Related terms

• bear
• born

Translations

Derived terms

References

Albanian

Etymology 1

From birë (“hole”).

Noun

birth m (indefinite plural birthe, definite singular birthi, definite plural birthat)

1. pimple, blemish

Related terms

• birë

Etymology 2

Diminutive -th lengthening of bir (“son”).

Noun

birth m (indefinite plural birthe, definite singular birthi, definite plural birthat)

1. son, little boy

English

Etymology

From Middle English caracter, from Old French caractere, from Latin character, from Ancient Greek ???????? (kharakt?r, “type, nature, character”), from ??????? (kharáss?, “I engrave”). Doublet of charakter.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k??(?)kt?/, /?kæ?(?)kt?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kæ??kt?/
• Hyphenation: char?ac?ter

Noun

character (countable and uncountable, plural characters)

1. (countable) A being involved in the action of a story.
2. (countable) A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; phene.

3. (uncountable, countable) A complex of traits marking a person, group, breed, or type.

   • A man of […] thoroughly subservient character

4. (uncountable) Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength.

5. (countable) A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma.

6. (countable) A written or printed symbol, or letter.
   • 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech

     It were much to be wished that there were throughout the world but one sort of character for each letter to express it to the eye.

7. (countable, dated) Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the particular form of letters used by a person or people.
8. (countable, dated) A secret cipher; a way of writing in code.
9. (countable, computing) One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character.
10. (countable, informal) A person or individual, especially one who is unknown or raises suspicions.

11. (countable, mathematics) A complex number representing an element of a finite Abelian group.
12. (countable) Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty.

13. (countable, dated) The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation.

    • This subterraneous passage is much mended since Seneca gave so bad a character of it.

14. (countable, dated) A reference given to a servant, attesting to their behaviour, competence, etc.
15. (countable, obsolete) Personal appearance.

Usage notes

Character is sometimes used interchangeably with reputation, but the two words have different meanings; character describes the distinctive qualities of an individual or group while reputation describes the opinions held by others regarding an individual or group. Character is internal and authentic, while reputation is external and perceived.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Pages starting with “character”.

Translations

Verb

character (third-person singular simple present characters, present participle charactering, simple past and past participle charactered)

1. (obsolete) To write (using characters); to describe.

See also

• codepoint
• font
• glyph
• letter
• symbol
• rune
• pictogram

Latin

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek ???????? (kharakt?r).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /k?a?rak.ter/, [k?ä??äkt??r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ka?rak.ter/, [k????kt??r]

Noun

character m (genitive charact?ris); third declension

1. branding iron
2. brand (made by a branding iron)
3. characteristic, mark, character, style

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Descendants

• Hungarian: karakter
• Galician: caritel; ? carácter
• Irish: carachtar
• Italian: carattere
• Old French: caractere
  • ? English: character
  • French: caractère
• Polish: charakter
  • ? Russian: ????????? (xarákter)
• Portuguese: caractere, carácter
• Sicilian: caràttiri
• Spanish: carácter

References

• character in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• character in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• character in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700?^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Portuguese

Noun

character m (plural characteres)

1. Obsolete spelling of caráter (used in Portugal until September 1911 and died out in Brazil during the 1920s).