different between fundament vs character

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French fundement, fondement, from Latin fund?mentum (“foundation”), from fund? (“I lay the bottom, I found”). Doublet of fondamento.

Noun

fundament (plural fundaments)

1. Foundation.
2. The bottom; the buttocks or anus.
   • 1703, Thomas Gibson, The anatomy of humane bodies epitomized:

     It [the Sphincter Ani] serves to purse up the Fundament, and so hinders the involuntary Evacuation of the Fæces.

   • 1861, Aristotle (pseud.), Aristotle's Works: containing directions for midwives, and counsel and advice to child-bearing women with various useful remedies., page 119

     ANOTHER defect that new-born infants are liable to is, to have their fundaments closed up; by which they can never evacuate the new excrements engendered by the milk they suck […]

   • 1864, Alfred Fennings, Fennings' everybody's doctor; or, When ill, how to get well, page 9

     Bathe the parts frequently with cold water, and, if there be much pain at stool, always squirt up the fundament, beforehand, with a syringe, half a teacupful of cold water.

   • 2008, Eric Summers, Ride Me Cowboy: Erotic Tales of the West, page 38[1]:

     I flinched when he touched my rosebud, but pretty soon I was fucking his mouth like it was Hector's fundament.

3. The underlying basis or principle for a theoretical or mathematical system.

Related terms

• fundamental

Translations

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch fondament, from Old French fundement, fondement, from Latin fundamentum (“foundation”), from fund? (“I lay the bottom, I found”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?n.da??m?nt/
• Hyphenation: fun?da?ment
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

fundament n (plural fundamenten, diminutive fundamentje n)

1. basis
2. foundation, basis

   Synonym: fundering

Related terms

• fundamenteel

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: fundamen

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin fundamentum

Noun

fundament n (definite singular fundamentet, indefinite plural fundament or fundamenter, definite plural fundamenta or fundamentene)

1. a foundation

Related terms

• fundamental

References

• “fundament” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin fundamentum

Noun

fundament n (definite singular fundamentet, indefinite plural fundament, definite plural fundamenta)

1. a foundation

Related terms

• fundamental

References

• “fundament” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fun?da.m?nt/

Noun

fundament m inan

1. foundation (lowest and supporting part or member of a wall)

Declension

Romanian

Etymology

From French fondement

Noun

fundament n (plural fundamente)

1. foundation

Declension

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).