different between character vs primer

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 1

From Middle English primer, primere, from Medieval Latin primarius and primarium (“prayer book”) possibly via Anglo-Norman primer (“prayer book”), from prima (“prime the liturgical hour and office”) + -arius and -arium (“forming related objects”). Its use for schoolbooks derived from the late medieval and early modern use of such prayer books to teach reading.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?a?.m?(?)/, enPR: pr??m?
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p??.m?/, enPR: pr?m??r
• (US, irregular, but common; borrowed from Etymology 2): IPA^(key): /?p?a?m?/, enPR: pr?m??r
• Rhymes: -a?m?(?), -?m?(?)

Noun

primer (plural primers)

1. (historical, Catholicism ecclesiastical) A prayer or devotional book intended for laity, initially an abridgment of the breviary and manual including the hours of the Virgin Mary, 15 gradual and 7 penitential psalms, the litany, the placebo and dirige forming the office of the dead, and the commendations.

   Synonyms: book of hours, prayer book

2. (historical, Protestant ecclesiastical) Similar works issued in England for private prayer in accordance with the Book of Common Prayer.
3. A children's book intended to teach literacy: how to read, write, and spell.
   • 1545, The A.B.C. Primers
4. An introductory text on any subject, particularly basic concepts.
5. (New Zealand) An elementary school class; an elementary school student.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

prime +? -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?a?.m?(?)/, enPR: pr??m?
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p?a?m?/, enPR: pr?m??
• Rhymes: -a?m?(?)

Noun

primer (countable and uncountable, plural primers)

1. Any substance or device, such as priming wire or blasting cap, used to ignite gunpowder or other explosive.
2. (obsolete, rare) A person who primes explosives.
3. A substance used to prime wood, metal, etc. in preparation for painting.
4. A layer of such a substance.
5. A layer of makeup that goes beneath the foundation; undermakeup.
6. (obsolete, rare) A person who primes wood, metal, etc.
7. (biochemistry) A molecule which initiates the synthesis of an enzyme, (especially) a single-stranded nucleic acid molecule which initiates DNA replication.
8. (medicine, zoology) A pheromone which interacts first with the endocrine system.
9. A device used to prime an internal combustion engine with gasoline, (especially) in airplanes.
10. A person who prunes trees.

Related terms

• primary
• prime

Translations

Etymology 3

From Anglo-Norman primer (“first”), from Latin pr?m?rius (“first”)

Adjective

primer (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) First in time, initial, early.

   • the primer English kings

2. (obsolete) First in importance, premier.
3. (obsolete, rare) First in position, foremost.

Derived terms

• primer fine
• primer seizin

Further reading

• Prime, Primer and Priming in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan [Term?], from Latin pr?m?rius.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /p?i?me/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /p?i?me?/
• Rhymes: -e(?)

Adjective

primer (feminine primera, masculine plural primers, feminine plural primeres)

1. first
2. (mathematics) prime (having no divisor except itself and 1):

Usage notes

When primer is the ordinal number of a century or of a regnal name of a monarch or pope, it is written using Roman numerals following the noun. Thus Joan Primer is written Joan I.

For most fractional numbers, the ordinal number is used to indicate the denominator of the fraction. Since 1 is never the denominator of a proper fraction, primer is not normally used to form fractions. Exceptions to this rule include mig (“half”), terç (“third”), quarter (“quarter”), milionèsim (“millionth”), bilionèsim (“billionth”), ....

The feminine form of the ordinal is usually used as the collective noun for a set of like objects of that size. Primera is not used for a set of 1, nor is there is any other term for the concept Exceptions to the usual rule include parell (“set of 2”), qüern (“set of 4”), centenar (“set of 100”), grossa (“set of 144”), miler (“set of 1000”), and milenar (“1000”).

Derived terms

Adverb

primer

1. first; before anything else

Further reading

• “primer” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?i.me/

Verb

primer

1. to dominate, to be dominant over
2. to win (a prize)
3. to prevail, take precedent

Conjugation

Further reading

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

Hungarian

Etymology

From German primär, from French primaire, from Latin primarius.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?prim?r]
• Hyphenation: pri?mer
• Rhymes: -?r

Adjective

primer (comparative primerebb, superlative legprimerebb)

1. primary

Declension

References

Further reading

• primer in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN

Old French

Adjective

primer m (oblique and nominative feminine singular primere)

1. Alternative form of premier

Adverb

primer

1. Alternative form of premier

Noun

primer m (oblique plural primers, nominative singular primers, nominative plural primer)

1. Alternative form of premier
2. (Anglo-Norman) primer (hymn book)

References

• primer on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• (Ijekavian): prímjer

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pr??mer/
• Hyphenation: pri?mer

Noun

prímer m (Cyrillic spelling ???????)

1. example, instance
2. model, paragon
3. precedence

Declension

Derived terms

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /primé?r/

Noun

prim??r m inan

1. example (something representative of a group)

Inflection

Derived terms

• na prímer

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?i?me?/, [p?i?me?]

Adjective

primer m (apocopate, standard form primero)

1. (before the noun) Apocopic form of primero (first)

2. (informal, proscribed) Apocopic form of primera (first)

Usage notes

• The form primer is only used before and within the noun phrase of a modified masculine singular noun. In other positions, the standard form primero is used instead.