English → Latin
“characteristic” in Latin
nōtusfamiliar, customary, in common use; widely known, famous, well-known; of great renown, illustrious, celebrated, notoriousignumvisible indication: sign, mark, signal; seal, signet; emblem, ensignproprietāsquality, property, peculiarity, character; the legal position of an owner particularly if his property is encumbered witsingulārissingular, unique, unusual; alone, single, solitary; nonpareil, peerless, unequalled. unmatched, exceptionalpropriusappropriate to oneself: (one's) proper, (one's) own (inalienably); belonging to oneself as property, or goods: (one's) o
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
characteristic
nota: signum (mark): proprietas (peculiarity). Often by neuter adjective: it is characteristic of the Romans to, etc., Romanum est, etc.
characteristic adj.
singularis: proprius. You have some characteristic traits, which are found in no other person, quaedam in te singularia sunt, quae in nullum alium hominem dici neque convenire possunt (Cic.). That is characteristic of him, *in hac re, ut in speculo, cernitur ejus bonitas (or whatever the kind of characteristic may be). The characteristic features of anybody’s character, lineamenta ingenii alicujus.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for characteristic?
- The usual Latin words for “characteristic” are nōtus, signum, proprietās; also singulāris, proprius. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.