Characterised

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Distinguished by unique attributes or qualities that set it apart from others
2. Identified through specific features or characteristics that mark its identity
3. Having particular traits that clearly separate it from others

Etymology: The verb "characterise" is built from "character" plus the suffix "-ise," and the stem is older than it looks. "Character" came into English from Old French "caractere," which took it from Latin "character," and that from Greek "kharaktēr," meaning an engraving tool or a mark cut into something. The Greek root "kharassein" means "to scratch" or "to engrave," so the original idea was a stamped impression, like the mark on a coin or seal. The suffix has its own separate history. The Greek "-izein" was used to form verbs meaning "to make into" or "to treat in a certain way," and it passed through Late Latin "-izare" and Old French "-iser" into Middle English. So "characterise" literally means something like "to stamp with a distinctive mark," and describing someone or something by its defining traits is a figurative extension of that stamping sense.

Synonyms: defined, marked, distinguished, identified, typified