different between character vs blot

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).

English

Etymology

From Middle English blot (“blot, spot, stain, blemish”). Perhaps from Old Norse *blettr (“blot, stain”) (only attested in documents from after Old Norse transitioned to Icelandic blettur), or from Old French bloche (“clod of earth”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bl?t/
• Rhymes: -?t
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bl?t/

Noun

blot (plural blots)

1. A blemish, spot or stain made by a coloured substance.
   • 1711, Jonathan Swift, An Excellent New Song

     I withdrew my subscription by help of a blot, / And so might discover or gain by the plot:

   • 1918, Siegfried Sassoon, “The Death-Bed” in The Old Huntsman and Other Poems, London: Heinemann, p. 95,^[1]

     […] He was blind; he could not see the stars

     Glinting among the wraiths of wandering cloud;

     Queer blots of colour, purple, scarlet, green,

     Flickered and faded in his drowning eyes.

2. (by extension) A stain on someone's reputation or character; a disgrace.
3. (biochemistry) A method of transferring proteins, DNA or RNA, onto a carrier.
4. (backgammon) An exposed piece in backgammon.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

blot (third-person singular simple present blots, present participle blotting, simple past and past participle blotted)

1. (transitive) to cause a blot (on something) by spilling a coloured substance.
2. (intransitive) to soak up or absorb liquid.

   This paper blots easily.

3. (transitive) To dry (writing, etc.) with blotting paper.
4. (transitive) To spot, stain, or bespatter, as with ink.
   • 1566, George Gascoigne, Dan Bartholmew of Bath

     The briefe was writte and blotted all with gore, […]

5. (transitive) To impair; to damage; to mar; to soil.
6. (transitive) To stain with infamy; to disgrace.
   • 1707, Nicholas Rowe, The Royal Convert

     Blot not thy Innocence with guiltle?s Blood.

7. (transitive) To obliterate, as writing with ink; to cancel; to efface; generally with out.

   to blot out a word or a sentence
8. (transitive) To obscure; to eclipse; to shadow.
   • 1656, Abraham Cowley, Davideis

     He ?ung how Earth blots the Moons gilded Wane, […]

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Bolt, bolt

Danish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle Low German bl?t (“bare”), from Proto-Germanic *blautaz (“void, emaciated, soft”), cognate with German bloß (“bare”) and Danish blød (“soft”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?l?d?]

Adjective

blot (plural and definite singular attributive blotte)

1. (dated) mere, very

Adverb

blot

1. (slightly formal) only, merely

Synonyms

• kun, bare

Etymology 2

Borrowed Old Norse blót, from Proto-Germanic *bl?t?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?lo?d?]

Noun

blot

1. a sacrifice (especially a blood sacrifice by heathens)

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?l?d?]

Verb

blot

1. imperative of blotte

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?lo?d?]

Verb

blot

1. imperative of blote

Low German

Etymology

From Middle Low German bl?t (“bare”), from Proto-Germanic *blautaz (“void, emaciated, soft”), cognate with German bloß (“bare”) and Danish blød (“soft”). Spelling variant of bloot.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?blo??t]

Adverb

blot

1. only, merely

Synonyms

• blots, man

References

• Der neue SASS: Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch, Plattdeutsch - Hochdeutsch, Hochdeutsch - Plattdeutsch. Plattdeutsche Rechtschreibung, sixth revised edition (2011, ?ISBN, Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster)

Luxembourgish

Adjective

blot

1. neuter nominative of blo
2. neuter accusative of blo

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *bl?t?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blo?t/

Noun

bl?t n

1. a sacrifice, especially a blood sacrifice by heathens