different between character vs job

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 the phrase jobbe of work (“piece of work”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a variant of Middle English gobbe (“mass, lump”); or perhaps related to Middle English jobben (“to jab, thrust, peck”), or Middle English choppe (“piece, bargain”). More at gob, jab, chop.

Folk etymology linked the word to Job, the biblical character who suffered many misfortunes; for semantic development of misery and labor, compare Vulgar Latin *tripalium (“instrument of torture”) and its Romance descendants like Spanish trabajo and French travail (whence borrowed into English travail).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: j?b, IPA^(key): /d???b/
• (General American) enPR: j?b, IPA^(key): /d???b/
• Rhymes: -?b

Noun

job (plural jobs)

1. A task.
   • 1996, Cameron Crowe, Jerry Maguire

     And it's my job to take care of the skanks on the road that you bang.

2. An economic role for which a person is paid.
   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Here I am at my new job! 

3. (in noun compounds) Plastic surgery.

4. (computing) A task, or series of tasks, carried out in batch mode (especially on a mainframe computer).
5. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:) A sudden thrust or stab; a jab.
6. A public transaction done for private profit; something performed ostensibly as a part of official duty, but really for private gain; a corrupt official business.
7. Any affair or event which affects one, whether fortunately or unfortunately.
8. (colloquial) A thing (often used in a vague way to refer to something whose name one cannot recall).

   Pass me that little job with the screw thread on it.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to "job": easy, hard, poor, good, great, excellent, decent, low-paying, steady, stable, secure, challenging, demanding, rewarding, boring, thankless, stressful, horrible, lousy, satisfying, industrial, educational, academic.

Translations

Verb

job (third-person singular simple present jobs, present participle jobbing, simple past and past participle jobbed)

1. (intransitive) To do odd jobs or occasional work for hire.
   • a. 1852, Thomas Moore, Literary Advertisement

     Authors of all work, to job for the season.

2. (intransitive) To work as a jobber.
3. (intransitive, professional wrestling slang) To take the loss.
4. (transitive, trading) To buy and sell for profit, as securities; to speculate in.
5. (transitive, often with out) To subcontract a project or delivery in small portions to a number of contractors.

   We wanted to sell a turnkey plant, but they jobbed out the contract to small firms.

6. (intransitive) To seek private gain under pretence of public service; to turn public matters to private advantage.
   • 1733, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Bathurst

     And judges job, and bishops bite the town.

7. To strike or stab with a pointed instrument.

   • a raven pitch'd upon him, and there sate, jobbing of the sore

8. To thrust in, as a pointed instrument.
   • 1683, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises

     And while the Tympan is coming , he slips his Left Hand Fingers from under the Frisket to the hither outer corner of it , as well to keep the Sheet close to the Tympan in its position , as to avoid the jobbing of the lower side of the Frisket against the small square shoulder

9. To hire or let in periods of service.
   • 1848, William M. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 59,^[1]

     […] ...and a pair of handsome horses were jobbed, with which Jos drove about in state in the park...

Translations

Derived terms

See also

• employment
• work
• labour

Anagrams

• obj

Danish

Etymology

From English job.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?d?j?b?]

Noun

job n

1. job

Inflection

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English job.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??p/
• Hyphenation: job
• Rhymes: -?p

Noun

job f (plural jobs)

1. (chiefly Belgium) job

   Synonym: baan

Usage notes

Job is the default word for a job in Belgium. In the Netherlands baan is the default; however, job is sometimes used informally or in certain sectors (e.g. marketing), but it may also be considered pretentious due to an association with yuppies.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English job.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??b/

Noun

job m or f (plural jobs)

1. (informal) job (employment role)
2. (Quebec, Louisiana, informal) work

Usage notes

• This term is feminine in Quebec and some parts of Louisiana and masculine elsewhere.

Synonyms

• (informal) boulot

Further reading

• “job” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English job.

Noun

job m (invariable)

1. job (employment role, computing task)

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English job.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d??bi/
• (Rarely) IPA^(key): /?d??b/

Noun

job m (plural jobs)

1. (computing) job (task carried out in batch mode)