trait

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French trait (“pull, stroke, line, feature”),^[2][3][4] literally something drawn,^[5] from Latin tractus (“a drawing out, dragging; later a line drawn, a feature”),^[6][2][7] the past participle of trahō (“to pull, draw”).^[6][7][3] The same Latin noun gave tratto (“a drawing, stroke, feature”) and trecho (“space, distance”),^[7] and English tract.^[6][8][7] Weekley compares German Zug (“stroke, feature”), a noun formed on ziehen (“to draw”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Shot or missiles of any kind, originally arrows: 1477, in Caxton's translation of the History of Jason,^[10][2] a sense found in Anglo-Norman since the early 12th century, along with a draught of drink and a haul of a net.^[11] The OED marks this sense as rare and obsolete.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The early senses, missiles (1477), a drawing out (1545) and in Scots a line or stripe (1561), did not last.^[10][12] The sense that took hold was a stroke made with a pen or pencil, a short line or touch in a picture, recorded from 1589 in Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie;^[10][2][6] a trait could also be a stroke of wit or sarcasm (1704, in Swift).^[10][12] Johnson (1755) still defined it only as "a stroke; a touch" and called it "scarce English".^[13] The modern sense, a distinguishing feature of mind or character, is first found in 1752, in Horace Walpole's letters;^[10][2] Barnhart sees it as growing out of the older meaning of a line or stroke, which had already passed to "feature" in French and Latin.^[2] The OED dates the use for a line of the face to 1773 and for a feature of a thing to 1864.^[10] In biology a trait is a physical or behavioural feature of an organism.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1477 – shot, missiles (now obsolete).^[10][2]
• 1545 – a drawing out, protraction (now obsolete).^[10]
• 1561 – in Scots, a line or stripe (now obsolete).^[10]
• 1589 – a stroke of the pen or pencil; a touch in a picture.^[10][2][3]
• 1704 – a stroke of wit or sarcasm.^[10]
• 1752 – a distinguishing quality of mind or character.^[10][2]
• 1773 – a line or feature of the face.^[10]
• 1864 – a characteristic feature of a thing.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A distinguishing quality or characteristic, especially of a person's character: Patience was her most admired trait.^[14][4][3]
2. In biology, a physical, physiological or behavioural feature of an organism, especially one that is inherited.^[4][3]
3. A line or feature of the face.^[3][10]
4. (rare) A touch or trace of some quality.^[14][10]
5. (archaic) A stroke or short line made with a pen, pencil or brush.^[4][3][10]

Related words

• portrait
• tract
• tractate
• treat
• treaty
• trace
• attract
• extract

Usage notes

The OED's first edition (1914) noted that the French-style pronunciation without the final /t/, regarded in 19th-century England as the correct one, was becoming less common, while the pronunciation with /t/ was established in the United States.^[10] Both are still heard in British English,^[15] and Merriam-Webster gives the form without /t/ as the usual British one.^[3] In Devon and Cornwall dialect, trait or traite meant very fine bran or coarser meal.^[16]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)