characterization

Etymology

It is formed partly from English character + -ization and partly, especially in later use, from English characterize + -ation.^[2][3][4] Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com instead take it from Medieval Latin charactērizātus, the past participle of charactērizō (“to characterize”), with the suffix -ion.^[5][6] The verb characterize is partly from this Medieval Latin verb, recorded in British sources from the 14th century in the sense "to distinguish",^[2] which is from Ancient Greek χαρακτηρίζω (kharaktērízō, “to engrave; to designate by a characteristic mark”), from χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “engraved mark”),^[2][3] the source of character.^[3] The OED notes that the biological sense of 1878 follows French caractérisation.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality or character given to something, and the giving of a distinct character to something: 1570, in John Dee's preface to H. Billingsley's translation of Euclid's Elements.^[2] Etymonline glosses this first sense as "marking out of a precise form", now obsolete.^[3] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1560–70.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense did not outlive the 17th century; the OED's last record is from 1666.^[2] The modern senses arose about 1800: a description or analysis of someone's or something's character, a portrayal in words, from 1801 in the OED and Merriam-Webster (Etymonline has 1814),^[2][5][3] and the creation of fictional characters in a novel or play from 1815, in a translation of A. W. Schlegel's lectures on drama.^[2] The OED notes that the French caractérisation had the descriptive sense from 1840.^[2] In 19th-century biology, permanent characterization was the supposed principle by which important changes are kept by all later members of a line, after the French of A. de Quatrefages.^[2]

Timeline

• 1570 – the character given to a thing, or the giving of it (John Dee; obsolete after 1666).^[2]
• 1801 – a description or analysis of the character of someone or something.^[2][5]
• 1815 – the creation of fictional characters.^[2]
• 1878 – permanent characterization, in biology.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or result of describing the distinctive qualities of someone or something; a description or portrayal: The minister rejected that characterization of the talks.^[5][7][2]
2. The representation of human character in fiction or drama; the creation of fictional characters: The plot is thin, but the characterization is superb.^[5][2][4]
3. The process of identifying the qualities of something, such as a substance, by study or testing.^[2][5]

Word family

• recharacterization
• self-characterization

Related words

• character
• characterize
• characteristic

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins