different between character vs identity

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

Middle French identité, from Latin idem (“the same”). See identical and idem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a??d?nt?ti/

Noun

identity (countable and uncountable, plural identities)

1. Sameness, identicalness; the quality or fact of (several specified things) being the same.
   • 1997, Hydrothermal Vent Fauna, in Advances in Marine Biology: The Biogeography of the Oceans, page 111:

     […] suggesting the two are different stages of the same species. The identity of the two species is further suggested by allozyme analysis […]

2. The difference or character that marks off an individual or collective from the rest of the same kind, selfhood, sense of who something or someone or oneself is, or the recurring characteristics that enable the recognition of such an individual or group by others or themself.

   I've been through so many changes, I have no sense of identity.

   This nation has a strong identity.

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

3. A name or persona—a mask or appearance one presents to the world—by which one is known.

   This criminal has taken on several identities.

4. (mathematics) An equation which always holds true regardless of the choice of input variables.
5. (algebra, computing) Any function which maps all elements of its domain to themselves.
6. (algebra) An element of an algebraic structure which, when applied to another element under an operation in that structure, yields this second element.
7. (Australia, New Zealand) A well-known or famous person.
   • 1887 July 19, "Drowned at Williamstown", The Age (Melbourne)

     The body of a well known old identity named James Conroy […] was found in the water yesterday afternoon…

   • 2013 April 4, "Cricket identities consult lawyers", New Zealand Herald
   • 2016 January 13, "Kings Cross identities arrested in connection with murder", The Sydney Morning Herald

Synonyms

• (sameness): See also Thesaurus:sameness
• (difference that marks off an individual): individuality, selfhood; see also Thesaurus:selfhood
• (mathematical function): identity function
• (famous person): celebrity, personality

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

• identity at OneLook Dictionary Search
• identity in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• identity in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• identity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.