trait

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See also: traït

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French trait (“line, feature”), from Latin tractus (“drawing, pulling”), from Latin trahō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tregʰ- (“to drag, pull?”), perhaps a variation of *dʰregʰ- (“to pull, draw, drag”). Doublet of tract.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tɹeɪt/
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • (traditional British pronunciation, now virtually obsolete) enPR: trā, IPA(key): /tɹeɪ/
  • Rhymes: -eɪt, -eɪ
  • Homophones: tray, trey (one pronunciation)

Noun

trait (plural traits)

  1. (biology, psychology) An identifying characteristic, habit or trend.
    Synonym: characteristic
    The number one personality trait I hate is hypocrisy. Why can't you be consistent!?
    • 1856, Ralph Waldo Emerson, English Traits, Truth:
      The English, of all classes, value themselves on this trait, as distinguishing them from the French, who, in the popular belief, are more polite than true.
    • 1916, John Dewey, Democracy and Education:
      The positive and constructive aspect of possibility gives the key to understanding the two chief traits of immaturity, dependence and plasticity.
    • 2003, Robert S. Siegler, Judy S. DeLoache, Nancy Eisenberg, How Children Develop, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 89:
      Turning to our second trait, if you have straight hair, then both of your parents must carry an allele for this trait.
  2. (object-oriented programming) An uninstantiable collection of methods that provides functionality to a class by using the class’s own interface.
    Coordinate terms: mixin, interface, class
    Traits are somewhat between an interface and a mixin.
    • 2006, Nathaniel J. Nystrom, Programming languages for scalable software extension and composition‎:
      Traits are parametrized on other methods, which must be provided to create a class using the trait. Using a trait-like mechanism to compose large collections of mutually-dependent classes or traits could lead to parameter explosion.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French trait, from Latin tractus.

Pronunciation

Noun

trait m (plural traits)

  1. line
  2. trait
  3. color of a mineral
  4. (dated) the action of hauling or pulling (by an animal of burden)
  5. (dated) straps or cords placed on an animal of burden and attached to the vehicle which the animal pulls
  6. (obsolete) an action reflecting a favorable or adverse intention by one person toward another
  7. a remarkable or influential historical event
  8. a particular passage in a speech that is well-written; an excellent or appealing characteristic of a speech
  9. a vibrant, brilliant, or innovative idea
  10. (religion) verses sung in a Mass between the gradual and the gospel reading
  11. connection or link between one thing and another
  12. (geology) color of the dust produced by a mineral
  13. (chess, checkers) the privilege of taking the first turn/move
  14. (oriented-object programming) trait

Derived terms

Related terms

Verb

trait

  1. inflection of traire:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. third-person singular past historic

Participle

trait (feminine traite, masculine plural traits, feminine plural traites)

  1. past participle of traire

Further reading

Anagrams

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