different between feel vs character

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi?l/, [fi??]
• Rhymes: -i?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English felen, from Old English f?lan (“to feel, perceive, touch”), from Proto-West Germanic *f?lijan (“to feel”).

Verb

feel (third-person singular simple present feels, present participle feeling, simple past and past participle felt)

1. (heading) To use or experience the sense of touch.
   1. (transitive, copulative) To become aware of through the skin; to use the sense of touch on.

   2. (transitive) To find one's way (literally or figuratively) by touching or using cautious movements.

   3. (intransitive) To receive information by touch or by any neurons other than those responsible for sight, smell, taste, or hearing.
   4. (intransitive) To search by sense of touch.

2. (heading) To sense or think emotionally or judgmentally.
   1. (transitive) To experience an emotion or other mental state about.
      • Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile?; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
   2. (transitive) To think, believe, or have an impression concerning.
   3. (intransitive, copulative) To experience an emotion or other mental state.
   4. (intransitive) To sympathise; to have the sensibilities moved or affected.
      • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

        [She] feels with the dignity of a Roman matron.

      • 1738, Alexander Pope, Epilogue to the Satires

        who feel for all mankind

3. (transitive) To be or become aware of.
4. (transitive) To experience the consequences of.

5. (copulative) To seem (through touch or otherwise).

6. (transitive, US, slang) To understand.

Usage notes

• When referring to the emotional state, most prescriptive grammarians prefer "I feel bad" to "I feel badly", but "I feel badly" is widely used this way in US English.
• Adjectives to which "feel" is often applied as a copula: free, cold, cool, warm, hot, young, old, good, great, fine, happy, glad, satisfied, excited, bad, depressed, unhappy, sad, blue, sorry, smart, stupid, loved, appreciated, accepted, rejected, lonely, isolated, insulted, offended, slighted, cheated, shy, refreshed, tired, exhausted, calm, relaxed, angry, annoyed, frustrated, anxious, worried, jealous, proud, confident, safe, grateful, uncomfortable, unsafe, insecure, desperate, guilty, ashamed, disappointed, dirty, odd, strange, ill, sick.
• In senses 2,3, and 5, this is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs
• In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use, and verbs used -est for distinct second-person singular indicative forms, the verb feel had the form feelest, and had feltest for its past tense.
• Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present indicative forms, the form feeleth was used.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

feel (plural feels)

1. A quality of an object experienced by touch.

   Bark has a rough feel.

2. A vague mental impression.

   You should get a feel of the area before moving in.

3. An act of fondling.

   She gave me a quick feel to show that she loves me.

4. A vague understanding.

   I'm getting a feel for what you mean.

5. An intuitive ability.

   She has a feel for music.

6. (chiefly US, slang) Alternative form of feeling.

   I know that feel.

Derived terms

• cop a feel
• get a feel for
• mouthfeel

Translations

Etymology 2

See fele.

Pronoun

feel

1. (dialectal or obsolete) Alternative form of fele

Adjective

feel (not comparable)

1. (dialectal or obsolete) Alternative form of fele

Adverb

feel (not comparable)

1. (dialectal or obsolete) Alternative form of fele

References

Anagrams

• elfe, fele, flee, leef

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian f?la.

Verb

feel

1. (Föhr-Amrum) to feel

Old Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin fid?lem (“faithful”). Replaced by the borrowing fidel in modern Catalan.

Adjective

feel

1. faithful

Seri

Noun

feel (plural feeloj)

1. mallard, Anas platyrhynchos

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).