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PlainSpell

character

char·ac·ter, cha·rac·terUK /ˈkæ.ɹɪk.tə/noun

character is spelled C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R, 5 syllables: char·ac·ter, cha·rac·ter. The wrong spelling people search most is charater: about 250 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 43 of all searches for the word. Character is a noun meaning “A being involved in the action of a story; a persona”. The plural of character is characters.

How many letters and syllables are in character?

Letters9: C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R
Syllables5: char·ac·ter, cha·rac·ter
In writing129 times per million words; the 810th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched7; the most searched, charater, about 250 Bing searches a month (all of them)

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How do you spell character?

Character is spelled C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R. 7 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 11 of the searches for character in either form.

characterthe right spelling10,500 searches a month
charatera missing c250 searches a month
charectere in place of a250 searches a month
charctera missing a170 searches a month
charactoro in place of e150 searches a month
charachteran extra h140 searches a month
chractera missing a70 searches a month
carachtera missing h, an extra h20 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is character?

Character appears 129 times per million words in written English, the 810th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce character?

  • UK /ˈkæ.ɹɪk.tə/
  • /ˈkæɹ(ə)ktɚ/
  • /ˈkɛɹ(ə)ktɚ/

Character has 5 syllables, split char·ac·ter, cha·rac·ter in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-character.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of character

  • characters plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • charactering participle, present
  • charactered participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does character mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A being involved in the action of a story; a persona.

  2. 2

    A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; nature; phene.

    A single locus governing the petal colour character was detected on the linkage group A2.

  3. 3

    A complex of traits marking a person, group, breed, or type.

    A study of the suspect's character and his cast iron alibi ruled him out.

  4. 4

    Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength.

    He has a great deal of character.

  5. 5

    A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma.

    Julius Caesar is a great historical character.

  6. 6

    A written or printed symbol, or letter.

  7. 7

    datedStyle of writing or printing; handwriting; the particular form of letters used by a person or people.

    an inscription in the Runic character

  8. 8

    datedA secret cipher; a way of writing in code.

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo write (using characters); to describe.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate character?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of character: chtr..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Character in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpersonnage (being in a story), caractère (distinguishing feature)
GermanFigur, Person (being in a story), Charakter (distinguishing feature), Original (notable or eccentric person), Buchstabe (symbol or letter)
Portuguesepersonagem (being in a story), caráter, carácter (distinguishing feature), fortaleza moral (moral strength)
Spanishcaracterística, carácter (distinguishing feature), personaje (notable or eccentric person), caracter (symbol or letter)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does character come from?

From Middle English caracter, from Old French caractere, from Latin character, from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “type, nature, character”), from χαράσσω (kharássō, “to engrave”). Displaced native English thew from Old English þēaw (in the plural) and Old English hād (“person, character”). Doublet of charakter.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after character