different between character vs essence
character
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)
- (countable) A being involved in the action of a story.
- (countable) A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; phene.
- (uncountable, countable) A complex of traits marking a person, group, breed, or type.
- A man of […] thoroughly subservient character
- (uncountable) Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength.
- (countable) A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma.
- (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.
- 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech
- (countable, dated) Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the particular form of letters used by a person or people.
- (countable, dated) A secret cipher; a way of writing in code.
- (countable, computing) One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character.
- (countable, informal) A person or individual, especially one who is unknown or raises suspicions.
- (countable, mathematics) A complex number representing an element of a finite Abelian group.
- (countable) Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty.
- (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.
- (countable, dated) A reference given to a servant, attesting to their behaviour, competence, etc.
- (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)
- (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
- branding iron
- brand (made by a branding iron)
- 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)
- Obsolete spelling of caráter (used in Portugal until September 1911 and died out in Brazil during the 1920s).
character From the web:
- what characteristics
- what character are you
- what characterizes static stretching
- what character do i look like
- what character from the office are you
- what character is this
- what characteristics do bureaucracies share
- what characters are in jump force
essence
English
Etymology
From French essence, from Latin essentia (“the being or essence of a thing”), from an artificial formation of esse (“to be”), to translate Ancient Greek ????? (ousía, “being”), from ?? (?n), present participle of ???? (eimí, “I am, exist”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /??s?ns/
Noun
essence (countable and uncountable, plural essences)
- The inherent nature of a thing or idea.
- 1713 September 21, Joseph Addison, The Guardian, collected in The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, volume IV, Birmingham: John Baskerville, published 1761, page 263:
- CHARITY is a virtue of the heart, and not of the hands, ?ays an old writer. Gifts and alms are the expre??ions, not the e??ence of this virtue.
- 1713 September 21, Joseph Addison, The Guardian, collected in The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, volume IV, Birmingham: John Baskerville, published 1761, page 263:
- (philosophy) The true nature of anything, not accidental or illusory.
- Constituent substance.
- A being; especially, a purely spiritual being.
- A significant feature of something.
- (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- The concentrated form of a plant or drug obtained through a distillation process.
- An extract or concentrate obtained from a plant or other matter used for flavouring.
- Fragrance, a perfume.
Synonyms
- (inherent nature): quintessence, whatness; See also Thesaurus:essence
- (significant feature): gist, crux; See also Thesaurus:gist
- (fragrance): aroma, bouquet; See also Thesaurus:aroma
Derived terms
- in essence
- of the essence; time is of the essence
Related terms
- essential
- essentially
- essentialism
- quintessential
Translations
Further reading
- essence in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- essence in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Anagrams
- senesce
French
Etymology
From Old French, from Latin essentia. Sense 2 very likely from Latin ed? (“eat”), in the sense of 'what is eaten, fuel'. Many forms of the latter are indistinguishable from the former, and so the confusion with essence is very understandable.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /e.s??s/, /?.s??s/
Noun
essence f (plural essences)
- (philosophy, theology) essence
- petrol, gasoline
- essence, essential oil
Derived terms
- poste d'essence
- station essence
Further reading
- “essence” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Anagrams
- censées
essence From the web:
- what essence means
- what essences to corrupt
- what incense should i use
- what essential oils are bad for dogs
- what essence does
- what essence do
- what essence of life
- what essence of gamaba
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