different between character vs temperament

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

Borrowed from Middle French tempérament, from Latin temperamentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?mp???m?nt/, /?t?mp??m?nt/, /?t?mp??m?nt/

Noun

temperament (countable and uncountable, plural temperaments)

1. (obsolete) A moderate and proportionable mixture of elements or ingredients in a compound; the condition in which elements are mixed in their proper proportions.
2. (obsolete) Any state or condition as determined by the proportion of its ingredients or the manner in which they are mixed; consistence, composition; mixture.
3. A person's usual manner of thinking, behaving or reacting.
4. A tendency to become irritable or angry.
5. (music) The altering of certain intervals from their correct values in order to improve the moving from key to key.
6. (psychology) Individual differences in behavior that are biologically based and are relatively independent of learning, system of values and attitudes.

Translations

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “temperament”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French tempérament, from Latin temperamentum.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: tem?pe?ra?ment

Noun

temperament n (plural temperamenten, diminutive temperamentje n)

1. (psychology) the usual mood of a person, or typical manner of thinking, behaving, and acting; temperament, temper, mood

   Oorspronkelijk waren in de Griekse oudheid de temperamenten de naam voor vier persoonlijkheidstypen: het sanguïnische, flegmatische, cholerische en melancholische temperament.^[1]

   Originally, in Greek antiquity, the temperaments were the names of the four personality types: the sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholy temperaments.

2. temperament: a tendency to become irritable or angry, temper
3. (music) temperament: a specific system of note pitches of a musical instrument

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin temperamentum

Noun

temperament n (definite singular temperamentet, indefinite plural temperament or temperamenter, definite plural temperamenta or temperamentene)

1. temperament
2. a temperamental nature

Derived terms

• temperamentsfull

References

• “temperament” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “temperament” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin temperamentum

Noun

temperament n (definite singular temperamentet, indefinite plural temperament, definite plural temperamenta)

1. temperament
2. a temperamental nature

Derived terms

• temperamentsfull

References

• “temperament” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

From Latin temperamentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?m.p??ra.m?nt/

Noun

temperament m inan (diminutive temperamencik)

1. temperament, character

Declension

Further reading

• temperament in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• temperament in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

From French tempérament, from Latin temperamentum.

Noun

temperament n (plural temperamente)

1. temperament

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Temperament, from Latin temperamentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /temper?ment/
• Hyphenation: tem?pe?ra?ment

Noun

temperàment m (Cyrillic spelling ????????????)

1. (psychology) temperament

Declension

References

• “temperament” in Hrvatski jezi?ni portal