different between custom vs character

English

Etymology

From Middle English custume, borrowed from Anglo-Norman custume, from Old French coustume, from a Vulgar Latin *c?nsu?t?men or *cost?men, from Latin c?nsu?t?dinem, accusative singular of c?nsu?t?d? (“custom, habit”), from c?nsu?sc? (“accustom, habituate”), from con- (“with”) + su?sc? (“become used or accustomed to”). First element con- derives from cum, from Old Latin com, from Proto-Italic *kom, from Proto-Indo-European *?óm (“with, along”). Second element su?sc? is from Proto-Indo-European *swe-d?h?-sk-, from *swé (“self”) + *d?eh?- (“to put, place, set”); related to Latin suus (“one's own, his own”). Displaced native Middle English wune, wone (“custom, habit, practice”) (from Old English wuna (“custom, habit, practice, rite”)), Middle English side, sid (“custom”) (from Old English sidu, sido (“custom, note, manner”)), Middle English cure (“custom, choice, preference”) (from Old English cyre (“choice, choosing, free will”)). Doublet of costume and consuetude.

Adjective form circa 1830.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?st?m/

Noun

custom (countable and uncountable, plural customs)

1. Frequent repetition of the same behavior; way of behavior common to many; ordinary manner; habitual practice; method of doing, living or behaving.
   • Moved beyond his custom, Gama said
2. Traditional beliefs or rituals

3. (Britain) Habitual buying of goods; practice of frequenting, as a shop, factory, etc., for making purchases or giving orders; business support.
   • September 28, 1710, Joseph Addison, The Whig Examiner No. 3

     Let him have your custom, but not your votes.

4. (law) Long-established practice, considered as unwritten law, and resting for authority on long consent; usage. See Usage, and Prescription.
5. (obsolete) Familiar acquaintance; familiarity.
6. (archaic, uncountable) Toll, tax, or tribute.
   • 1769, Bible, Authorised King James Version, Oxford standard text, Romans, xiii, 7:

     Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

Synonyms

Translations

Adjective

custom (not comparable)

1. Created under particular specifications, specially to fit one's needs: specialized, unique, custom-made.

   My feet are very large, so I need custom shoes.

2. Own, personal, not standard or premade.

   We can embroider a wide range of ready designs or a custom logo.

3. (archaic) Accustomed; usual.

Derived terms

• custom-made
• custom-written

Related terms

• custom made

See also

• Thesaurus:custom-made

Translations

Verb

custom (third-person singular simple present customs, present participle customing, simple past and past participle customed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To make familiar; to accustom.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gray to this entry?)

2. (transitive, obsolete) To supply with customers.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To pay the customs of.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To have a custom.

Related terms

• consuetude
• costumal
• costume
• customary
• customer
• customization
• customize

Further reading

• custom in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• custom in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

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).