karaktär

Karaktär is a Swedish noun meaning character, with several related senses: a person’s personality; a character in a narrative or drama; and a single symbol or sign in writing.

Etymology: The term derives from French caractère, ultimately from Latin character. It was borrowed into Swedish in the early modern period, aligning with other European languages that use similar words for "character."

Uses and senses: In everyday language, karaktär denotes enduring traits that shape behavior, often in phrases like karaktärsdrag (character traits) or god karaktär (good character). In literature and media, a karaktär is an individual within a story, with distinctions such as huvudkaraktär (protagonist) and bi-karaktär (secondary character). In scholarly or critical contexts, karaktär can refer to moral or ethical qualities as part of character analysis.

Typography and computing: In typography and digital text, karaktär refers to a single written symbol, such as a letter, digit, or punctuation mark. In discussions of text encoding, one speaks of character codes and character sets (for example Unicode or ASCII).

Related terms and notes: The concept intersects with karaktärsskildring (character portrayal), karaktärsutveckling (character development), and the broader notion of tecken (sign or symbol). While tecken is often used for signs and marks, karaktär emphasizes the unit of a written symbol within a broader linguistic or narrative context.