"character (personality)" in seven languages
Meaningcharacter (personality)
Spanish
carácter
/kaˈɾakteɾ/
masc.learned
plural: caracteres
The stress moves in the plural: carácter, caracteres.
French
caractère
/kaʁaktɛʁ/
masc.learned
Italian
carattere
/kaˈrattere/
masc.learned
Portuguese
caráter
/kaˈɾatɛh/
masc.learned
European Portuguese writes carácter.
Romanian
caracter
/karakˈter/
neut.learned
Catalan
caràcter
/kəˈɾaktəɾ/
masc.learned
English
character
/ˈkɛɹəktɚ/
from Latin/French · Old French caractere / Latin CHARACTĒR
English → Italiancharacter (personality)carattereCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
CHARACTĒREM (from Greek kharaktḗr)‘stamp, engraved mark’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A Greek kharaktḗr was the tool that stamps a mark, then the mark itself — and finally the 'stamp' of a person. A character in a story is a different word: personaje, personnage, personaggio.
English relatives: character, characteristic
Learn it
In a sentence
- esTiene mucho carácter.
- frElle a un fort caractère.
- itHa un carattere forte.
- ptEla tem um caráter forte.
- roAre un caracter puternic.
- caTé molt de caràcter.
- enShe has a strong character.