Charakter

See also: charakter

German

Alternative forms

• Character, Karakter (noun 1; dated)

Etymology

From Middle High German karacter, from Latin character, from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “type, nature, character”), from χαράσσω (kharássō, “I engrave”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈraktər/, [kaˈʁak.tɐ]

  • Audio:

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /karakˈteːr/, [ka.ʁakˈteːɐ̯], [-ˈtɛɐ̯] (rare byform for noun 2)

Noun

Charakter m (strong, genitive Charakters, plural Charaktere or Charakter)

1. character; the totality of someone's personal qualities

   Synonym: Persönlichkeit

   Ein Mann von ausgezeichnetem Charakter. ― A man of excellent character.

   • 1790, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Torquato Tasso‎^[1], Leipzig:

     Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille, / Sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. character, characteristic feature or nature of a thing, place, or people

   Synonym: Merkmal

   der Charakter der Stadt ― the character of the city

   der Charakter des Volkes ― the character of the people

   der nationale Charakter ― the national character

3. (becoming dated) character, symbol, written glyph
   • 1979, Eduard Mörike, chapter 5, in Maler Nolten:

     Er zog ein mit sonderbaren Charakteren geschriebenes Heft hervor, […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. (dated, possibly archaic) title, rank

Usage notes

• The usual plural is Charaktere with the stress switching to the penultima. The regularised unchanged plural is occasionally seen and heard.

Declension

Declension of Charakter [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Charakter	die	Charaktere, Charakter
genitive	eines	des	Charakters	der	Charaktere, Charakter
dative	einem	dem	Charakter	den	Charakteren, Charaktern
accusative	einen	den	Charakter	die	Charaktere, Charakter

Hyponyms

• Gesellschaftscharakter
• Individualcharakter
• Halbmetallcharakter
• Sozialcharakter

Derived terms

• charakterlos
• Charakteristik
• charakterisieren, (Charakterisierung)

Related terms

• Charakterarmut
• Charakterbuchstabe
• Charaktereigenschaft
• Charakterfehler
• Charakterkunde
• Charakterlehre
• Charaktermangel
• Charaktermord
• Charakterschwäche
• Charakterschwein
• Charakterstärke
• Charakterstruktur
• Charakterstudie
• Charakterzug

 

Noun

Charakter m (strong, genitive Charakters, plural Charaktere)

1. a character; role/figure in a theatrical play, video game etc., which has a noticeable character (set of personal qualities)

Declension

Declension of Charakter [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Charakter	die	Charaktere
genitive	eines	des	Charakters	der	Charaktere
dative	einem	dem	Charakter	den	Charakteren
accusative	einen	den	Charakter	die	Charaktere

Related terms

• Charakterdarsteller
• Charakterrolle

Further reading

• “Charakter” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Charakter” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Charakter” in Duden online

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From German Charakter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈʀakteʀ/, [kɑˈʀɑktɐ]

Noun

Charakter m (plural Charakteren)

1. character