characteristic
char·ac·te·ris·tic/ˌkæɹ(ə)ktəˈɹɪstɪk/adjective, noun
characteristic is spelled C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R-I-S-T-I-C: 14 letters and 5 syllables (char·ac·te·ris·tic). It appears 9.3 times per million words in written English, the 7,445th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, characteristic means “Indicating a distinguishing feature of a person or thing; typical” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in characteristic?
| Letters | 14: C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R-I-S-T-I-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5: char·ac·te·ris·tic |
| In writing | 9.3 times per million words; the 7,445th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is characteristic?
Characteristic appears 9.3 times per million words in written English, the 7,445th 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 characteristic?
- UK /ˌkæɹəktəˈɹɪstɪk/
- US /ˌkæɹ(ə)ktəˈɹɪstɪk/
- US [ˌkʰæɹəktəˈɹɪstɪk]
Characteristic has 5 syllables, split char·ac·te·ris·tic in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-characteristic.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with characteristic?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as characteristic from its last stressed vowel (/ɪstɪk/):
- artistic
- optimistic
- linguistic
- autistic
- futuristic
- holistic
- narcissistic
- logistic
- opportunistic
- antagonistic
- altruistic
- deterministic
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of characteristic
- more characteristic comparative
- most characteristic superlative
- characteristics plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does characteristic mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Indicating a distinguishing feature of a person or thing; typical.
- 2
archaicDescribing or pertaining to personal characters or character types; characterful.
noun
- 1
A distinguishing feature of a person or thing, a part of mental or physical behavior.
- 2
The integer part of a logarithm.
- 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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Characteristic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | caractéristique |
| German | charakteristisch, bezeichnend, kennzeichnend, typisch , Merkmal, Eigenschaft |
| Portuguese | característico, caraterístico , característica, caraterística |
| Spanish | característico , característica |
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.