Today we’re featuring another pair of similar-looking Spanish words and looking at how they are typically used; in this case característica and característico.
Una característica (feminine noun) is a quality of something or someone that distinguishes them from others – a characteristic or feature, depending on the context:
La cuenca del Congo reúne ciertas características únicas que habrían hecho posible la supervivencia de especies arcaicas.
The Congo Basin combines certain unique characteristics orfeatures that would have enabled ancient species to survive.
Las características de diseño se consideraron avanzadas y quizás adelantadas a su tiempo.
The design features were considered advanced and perhaps even ahead of their time.
Una característica (feminine noun) is another term for una actriz de carácter or una actriz característica, while un característico (masculine noun) means the same as un actor de carácter or un actor característico. They are respectively a woman and a man who portray others in cinema, television or theatre, playing the parts of unusual, excentric or elderly people in secondary roles – a character actor:
Es considerado uno de los característicos más populares de su época.
He is considered one of the most popular character actors of his time.
Finally, the adjective característico (together with its inflected forms característica, característicos and características to agree with the noun qualified) describes anything that is a distinguishing feature of someone or something or that is associated with them – characteristic:
El sudor sólo alcanza su olor característico al ser degradado por bacterias.
Sweat only gets its characteristic smell when broken down by bacteria.
un tipo de edificio característico de este período
a characteristic building type or a typical building of this period
To explore the differences in usage between other similar-looking Spanish words, come back next week.
