rasgo

Rasgo is a Spanish noun meaning a distinguishing characteristic or feature of a person, object, or phenomenon. It is used to refer to an attribute, quality, or property that helps identify or describe something, and it is commonly translated into English as trait or feature. The term appears across disciplines, with slightly different emphases in each field.

In psychology and personality research, rasgo typically designates a relatively stable aspect of an individual's behavior or temperament. When used with "de personalidad" (rasgos de personalidad), it refers to personality traits such as extraversion, conscientiousness, or openness. Rasgos are often measured with standardized scales and used to predict patterns of behavior, preferences, and life outcomes.

In linguistics and anthropology, rasgo denotes a characteristic of a language, culture, or artifact. For example, phonological rasgos such as vowel length or tone, or grammatical rasgos such as tense marking or word order, describe linguistic features that help distinguish languages or dialects.

In biology and genetics, rasgo describes a phenotypic characteristic or inherited attribute, such as hair color, eye color, or susceptibility to a condition. In this sense, rasgo is closely aligned with the English term trait.

Rasgo is a versatile term in Spanish and is used across formal and informal registers. Its plural form, rasgos, is common when enumerating several distinguishing features. See also trait, feature, characteristic.