Charakteristický

Charakteristická is the feminine singular form of the Czech adjective charakteristický, meaning characteristic, distinctive, or typical. It is used to modify feminine nouns, describing properties or features that help distinguish a subject. The masculine and neuter forms are charakteristický and charakteristické respectively; the adjective agrees with the noun in gender, number, and case.

Etymology: The word is built from charakter (character) with the standard Czech adjectival suffix -istický and has been integrated into Czech through historical language development.

Usage: Charakteristická is common in everyday Czech as well as scientific and technical language. Examples include charakteristická vlastnost (a characteristic property), charakteristická křivka (a characteristic curve), and charakteristická frekvence (characteristic frequency). In biology, one speaks of charakteristické znaky druhu (characteristic features of a species); in linguistics, of charakteristické rysy jazyka (characteristic features of a language).

Note: In compound expressions, the form adapts to the gender of the noun; for masculine nouns you would say charakteristický, for neuter nouns charakteristické, and for feminine nouns charakteristická.

See also: charakteristika, which denotes the characteristic or profile of something; related terms include charakter, charakteristika, and charakteristické rysy.