how to say “character” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/אופי-#.m4a” /]אֹפִי
Yesterday we saw that the Hebrew word for personality – אישיות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/אופי-#.m4a” /] – comes from the basic Hebrew word איש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/אופי-#.m4a” /] meaning man, or more essentially, person.
What about character – the parts of a person that are in some ways less personal but are nevertheless essential to who s/he is? That word in Hebrew is אופי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/אופי-#.m4a” /].
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/אופי-#.m4a” /]אופי ואישיות הם לא אותו הדבר.
Character and personality are not the same thing.
However, in Hebrew they are used pretty much synonymously.
Words derived from אופי include אופייני[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/אופי-#.m4a” /] – typical and מאפיינים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/אופי-#.m4a” /] – properties (such as those of a digital image).
Now, all this is character in the personal/ethical sense of the word. But if you want to refer to a character in a story, the word is דמות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/אופי-#.m4a” /].