Character
Etymology
From Greek "kharaktēr" (an engraving tool, then the mark it stamps), from "kharassein" (to scratch, engrave). Character was originally a stamp pressed into wax or coin; the moral sense keeps that image of something engraved deep and hard to alter — the impression a life has left on a person.
noun · /KAIR-ik-tur/
The stable moral qualities that define who a person really is.
What it names
The enduring self beneath behavior — what a person does when no one is watching — as opposed to the self they perform.
Example
The crisis didn’t build his character so much as reveal it.
Related idea
Character is who you actually are, tested in private; reputation is what others believe you are, and the two can diverge sharply — one is the engraving, the other the rumor of it.
noun · /KAIR-ik-tur/
A person represented in a novel, play, film, or other story.
What it names
an invented figure in a narrative
Example
Elizabeth Bennet is the sharpest character in Pride and Prejudice.
Related idea
The stream-of-consciousness technique works by dissolving the narrator into a single character’s unfiltered thoughts.
noun · /KAIR-ik-tur/
A single letter, digit, or symbol used in writing, printing, or computing.
What it names
a written or encoded sign
Example
Written Chinese uses thousands of characters; early tweets were capped at 140.
Related idea
Every scrap of marginalia is, at bottom, characters — the smallest units from which all written meaning is assembled.