Attribútum

An attribute, or attribútum, is a property or characteristic of an object, entity, or concept that can be used to describe, classify, or constrain it. Attributes capture information about something that helps distinguish it from other things and can be expressed as values, features, or descriptors. The term derives from Latin attributum, from attribuere “to assign.”

In linguistics, attributes are descriptive modifiers that qualify nouns or noun phrases, such as adjectives or possessive phrases, and they can affect interpretation and syntax. In computing, attributes are properties of data structures and program elements. In object‑oriented programming, attributes (also called fields or properties) store state. In HTML and XML, attributes are name‑value pairs within a tag that provide additional information, such as class, id, or href.

In databases and data modeling, an attribute corresponds to a column or field of an entity or relation and has a domain, type, and constraints (for example, NOT NULL, unique). Attributes are also central to metadata, describing data about data, objects, or processes. In philosophy and ontology, attributes refer to properties that things can have, distinguishing objects by their characteristics.

See also: property, characteristic, feature, metadata.