characters
English meaning: Characters
Definition
A being involved in the action of a story.
Example
“The novel follows three main characters over twenty years.”
Another example: “Your password must contain at least eight characters.”
Usage — When, Where & How
Plural noun (of 'character') with two everyday senses: the people in a story, play or game ('main characters'), and individual letters or symbols in text ('1,000 characters'). The computing/text sense is very common online. Neutral in register.
Etymology & Origin
English — Origin & History
From Greek 'kharakter' (a stamp, engraved mark), via Latin and Old French; the 'person in a story' sense developed from the idea of a distinctive stamp or role in the 17th century.
Related Words
- unicode
- anime
- manga
- marvel
- protagonist
- character
- comics
- voiced
- recurring
- fictional
Common Collocations
- main characters
- fictional characters
- special characters
- cartoon characters
- beloved characters
- character limit
Word Forms
character (sing.); characters (pl.)
Word Tools
Literary Heritage
“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”
/To thine own self be true/
“Be honest with yourself — and as naturally as night follows day, you will be unable to be false to others.”
“I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too?”
/I'm nobody! Who are you?/
“I am nobody — and that quiet anonymity is more honest than the noise of public fame.”
Images
CC-licensed · free to useVideo
Language information
- Language
- English
- English
- Script
- Latin
- Family
- Indo-European
- Speakers
- 1.5B