different between habit vs character

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?hæb?t/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /?hæb?t/
• Rhymes: -æb?t

Etymology 1

From Middle English habit, from Latin habitus (“condition, bearing, state, appearance, dress, attire”), from habe? (“I have, hold, keep”). Replaced Middle English abit, from Old French abit, itself from the same Latin source. Displaced native Old English þ?aw.

Noun

habit (countable and uncountable, plural habits)

1. An action performed on a regular basis.

   Synonym: wont

   • a man of very shy, retired habits

2. An action performed repeatedly and automatically, usually without awareness.

3. A long piece of clothing worn by monks and nuns.

4. A piece of clothing worn uniformly for a specific activity.

5. (archaic) Outward appearance; attire; dress.
   • There are, among the statues, several of Venus, in different habits.
6. (botany, mineralogy) Form of growth or general appearance of a variety or species of plant or crystal.
7. An addiction.

Related terms

• exhibit
• habitual
• habituate
• habitus
• inhibit
• prohibit

Derived terms

• eating habit

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English habiten, from Old French habiter, from Latin habit?re, present active infinitive of habit? (“I dwell, abide, keep”), frequentative of habe? (“I have, hold, keep”); see have.

Verb

habit (third-person singular simple present habits, present participle habiting, simple past and past participle habited)

1. (transitive) To clothe.
2. (transitive, archaic) To inhabit.

Related terms

• habitat
• habitation

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Ba'thi

Albanian

Etymology

According to Orel, borrowed from a South Slavic language and ultimately derived from Proto-Slavic *xabiti (“to spoil, to waste”). Compare Old Church Slavonic ?????? (xabiti), Serbo-Croatian habiti (“damage, destroy”), and Bulgarian ???? (habja, “destroy, spend; blunt”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ha?bit/

Verb

habit (first-person singular past tense habita, participle habitur)

1. I surprise
2. I astonish
3. (Gheg; northern Albania and Kosovo) I distract, confuse

Derived terms

• habi
• habitshëm
• habitur
• habitje
• habitore

References

French

Etymology

From Old French habit, abit, borrowed from Latin habitus.

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /a.bi/

Noun

habit m (plural habits)

1. article of clothing, garment, dress-coat, evening dress, tails, full dress

Derived terms

• l'habit ne fait pas le moine

Related terms

• habiller
• habillement

Descendants

• ? German: Habit

Further reading

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

Old French

Noun

habit m (oblique plural habiz or habitz, nominative singular habiz or habitz, nominative plural habit)

1. Alternative form of abit

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?xa.b?it/

Noun

habit m inan

1. habit (clothing worn by monks and nuns)

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).