charakteristickým

Charakteristickým is the instrumental singular form of the Czech adjective charakteristický, meaning “characteristic.” It is used to describe a noun in the instrumental case, indicating a feature by which something is characterized.

In practice, charakteristickým modifies masculine and neuter nouns, while the feminine instrumental singular form is charakteristickou. For example, in the sentence Charakteristickým rysem tohoto období je vysoká míra nejistoty, the expression describes a feature of the period. Another common collocation is charakteristickou vlastností, meaning “a characteristic property/feature.” The instrumental form is typically used with verbs and phrases that express description, evaluation, or explanation of a characteristic.

Etymology and usage notes: the word derives from charakter a suffix -istický, forming an adjective meaning “characteristic.” The instrumental ending -ým (with the spelling in -ickým after the stem) marks the grammatical case rather than a new lexical item. This form is standard in formal, descriptive, or scientific Czech, where precise characterization of subjects is required.

Overview: charakteristickým serves as a precise, grammatically correct way to attribute a defining feature to a subject in contexts requiring the instrumental case. It contrasts with feminine form charakteristickou and with other case forms of the same adjective, which appear in different syntactic constructions.