Karakterien

Karakterien is a term used in several European languages to refer to the notion of character in its broad sense. It can denote written signs such as letters, digits, punctuation, or symbols; or imaginary beings in stories; or personal traits. The exact usage depends on the language, but the common thread is that karakterien are units that carry meaning or identity in communication.

In typography and linguistics, a character is the smallest element that can be used in a writing system. Characters are stored and processed as code points in character sets such as Unicode, and fonts render them as glyphs. A single character may be shown by different glyphs depending on font, size, or stylistic context.

In literature and media, karakterien are the fictional persons who populate narratives. Their appearances, actions, and development—often described through characterization—drive plot and theme. Archetypes, motives, and relationships determine how audiences understand a story.

In computing and information processing, character handling includes input, storage, and display. Encoding ensures that text remains interoperable across systems. Normalization, case folding, and other normalization forms affect how characters are compared and sorted.

Finally, in everyday language, character can denote moral or personal traits, describing qualities such as honesty or courage.