karakteristiska

Karakteristiska is a Swedish adjective meaning "characteristic" or "distinctive," and as a plural form it is commonly used to refer to characteristic features or characteristics. It often appears in compounds with nouns like drag, egenskaper, kännetecken, or symtom to indicate features that help identify or describe something. Example phrases include karakteristiska drag (characteristic features), karakteristiska egenskaper (characteristic properties), and karakteristiska kännetecken (distinctive features).

In science and everyday language, the term is used to distinguish typical properties from incidental ones. In biology, for instance, characteristic traits help differentiate species; in medicine, characteristic symptoms help diagnose a condition. In linguistics, phonetic or syntactic features may be described as karakteristiska. In mathematics and probability, the equivalent English terms "characteristic function" and "characteristic" are used; in Swedish, these phrases translate to karakteristisk funktion and karakteristiska funktioner, respectively.

Origin and usage: the word derives from Latin characteristicus, via German or French influence, through Swedish karaktäristisk meaning "characteristic." The form karakteristiska is the typical plural and adjectival inflection used with plural nouns.

See also: Characteristic, Characteristic function, Distinctive feature.