different between story vs character

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st??.?i/
• Rhymes: -???i

Etymology 1

From Middle English storie, storye, from Anglo-Norman estorie, from Latin historia, from Ancient Greek ??????? (historí?, “learning through research”), from ??????? (historé?, “to research, inquire (and) record”), from ????? (híst?r, “the knowing, wise one”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, know”). Doublet of history and storey.

Alternative forms

• storie (obsolete)

Noun

story (plural stories)

1. A sequence of real or fictional events; or, an account of such a sequence.

   Synonym: tome

   • 1673, William Temple, An Essay upon the Advancement of Trade in Ireland

     it must be exploded for fabulous, with other relics of ancient story.

   • June 1861, Edinburgh Review, The Kingdom of Italy

     Venice, with its unique city and its impressive story

2. A lie, fiction.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lie

3. (US, colloquial, usually pluralized) A soap opera.

   Synonym: serial

   • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things

     He stood on the doorstep for a minute, listening for sounds inside the house — a radio, a TV tuned to one of the stories […]

4. (obsolete) History.
   • 1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica:

     […] who is so unread or so uncatechis'd in story, that hath not heard of many sects refusing books as a hindrance, and preserving their doctrine unmixt for many ages, only by unwritt'n traditions.

5. A sequence of events, or a situation, such as might be related in an account.

   Synonym: narrative

6. (social media) A chronological collection of pictures or short videos published by a user on an application or website that is typically only available for a short period.

Usage notes

• (soap opera): Popularized in the 1950s, when soap operas were often billed as "continuing stories", the term "story" to describe a soap opera fell into disuse by the 21st century and is now used chiefly among older people and in rural areas. Other English-speaking countries used the term at its zenith as a "loaned" word from the United States.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Welsh: stori

Translations

Verb

story (third-person singular simple present stories, present participle storying, simple past and past participle storied)

1. To tell as a story; to relate or narrate about.
   • 1648, John Wilkins, Mathematical Magick

     It is storied of the brazen colossus in Rhodes, that it was seventy cubits high.

Etymology 2

Probably as etymology 1, since historia already had this meaning in medieval Anglo-Latin. An alternative suggestion derives it from Old French *estoree (“a thing built, a building”), from estoree (“built”), feminine past participle of estorer (“to build”), from Latin instauro (“to construct, build, erect”).

Alternative forms

• storey (UK)

Noun

story (plural stories)

1. (obsolete) A building or edifice.
2. (chiefly US) A floor or level of a building; a storey.

   Synonyms: floor, level

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, chapter I:

     The lower story of the market-house was open on all four of its sides to the public square.

3. (typography) Alternative form of storey

Translations

Usage notes

See storey.

References

Anagrams

• ryots, stroy, tyros

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French estoree, past participle of estorer. Alternatively, the same word as storie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st?ri?(?)/, /?st??ri?(?)/

Noun

story (plural storyes) (rare)

1. A level of a building.
2. A line of paddles on a ship.

Descendants

• English: story, storey

References

• “st?r?(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-04-05.

Etymology 2

From Old French estorie, estoire.

Verb

story

1. Alternative form of storie

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).