characteristic
Forms
- Comparative
- more characteristic
- Superlative
- most characteristic
- Plural
- characteristics
Definitions
1.Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.
1.A distinguishing feature of a person or thing, a part of mental or physical behavior.
2.The integer part of a logarithm.
- Similarly, the characteristic for .003 is −3, and the characteristic for .0003 is −4.
3.The distinguishing features of a navigational light on a lighthouse etc by which it can be identified (colour, pattern of flashes etc.).
4.For a given field or ring, a natural number that is either the smallest positive number n such that n instances of the multiplicative identity (1) summed together yield the additive identity (0) or, if no such number exists, the number 0.
- The characteristic of a field, if non-zero, must be a prime number.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2262
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
Etymology tree
Ancient Greek χαράσσω (kharássō)
Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr
Ancient Greek -τήρ (-tḗr)
Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr)
Proto-Indo-European *-id-
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti
Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō
Ancient Greek -ίζω (-ízō)