English

Proper noun

Char

1. A nickname for Charlotte
2. A a pet name for Charlene

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tʃɑː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /tʃɑɹ/, [tʃɑɹ], [tʃɑ˞]
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)

Verb

char ‎(third-person singular simple present chars, present participle charring, simple past and past participle charred)

1. (ergative) To burn something to charcoal.
2. To burn slightly or superficially so as to affect colour.

Synonyms

• coal
• blacken, scorch, sear, singe

Translations

Noun

char ‎(plural chars or char)

1. A charred substance.

Synonyms

• charcoal

Translations

Etymology 2

Origin unknown, perhaps from Celtic.

Alternative forms

• charr

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tʃɑː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /tʃɑɹ/, [tʃɑɹ], [tʃɑ˞]
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)

Noun

char ‎(plural chars or char)

1. One of the several species of fishes of the genus Salvelinus.

   “Among other native delicacies, they give you fresh char.”

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English cherre ‎(“odd job”), from Old English ċierr ‎(“a turn, change, time, occasion, affair, business”), from ċierran ‎(“to turn, change, turn oneself, go, come, proceed, turn back, return, regard, translate, persuade, convert, be converted, agree to, submit, make to submit, reduce”), from Proto-Germanic *karzijaną ‎(“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *gers- ‎(“to bend, turn”). Cognate with Dutch keer ‎(“a time, turn, occasion”), German Kehre ‎(“a turn, bight, bend”) and kehren ‎(“to sweep”) or umkehren ‎(“to return or reverse”), Greek γύρος ‎(gýros, “a bout, whirl”), gyre. Compare Sanskrit "char" (to do), "kri" (to do), "kar" (to perform), and Persian کار ‎(kar, “work”). More at chore, ajar.

Alternative forms

• chare

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tʃɑː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /tʃɑɹ/, [tʃɑɹ], [tʃɑ˞]
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)

Noun

char ‎(plural chars)

1. (obsolete) A time; a turn or occasion.
2. (obsolete) A turn of work; a labour or item of business.
3. An odd job, a chore or piece of housework.
4. A charlady, a woman employed to do housework; cleaning lady.

   I had to scrub the kitchen today, because the char couldn't come.

Synonyms

• charlady
• charwoman
• cleaning lady
• cleaning woman

Translations

Verb

char ‎(third-person singular simple present chars, present participle charing or charring, simple past and past participle chared or charred)

1. (obsolete) To turn, especially away or aside.
2. To work, especially to do housework; to work by the day, without being a regularly hired servant.
   • 1893, She explained that she was the commissionaire's wife, who did the charing, and I gave her the order for the coffee. — Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Naval Treaty’ (Norton 2005, p.677)
   • 1897, W.S. Maugham, Lisa of Lambeth, chapter 2

     Her husband had been a soldier, and from a grateful country she received a pension large enough to keep her from starvation, and by charring and doing such odd jobs as she could get she earned a little extra to supply herself with liquor.

3. (obsolete) To perform; to do; to finish.
   • Old proverb

     That char is chared, as the good wife said when she had hanged her husband.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Nares to this entry?)

4. To work or hew (stone, etc.).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Oxf. Gloss to this entry?)

Etymology 4

Abbreviation of character.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tʃɑː/, /kɛə/, /kɑː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /tʃɑɹ/, /kɛɹ/, /kɑɹ/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)

Noun

char ‎(plural chars)

1. (computing, programming) A character (text element such as a letter or symbol).
   • Java programming language tutorial
   • 1975, Computerworld - 23 avr. 1975 - Page 21

     The unit is an 80-column, 30 char. /sec dot matrix printer which uses a 5 by 7 font.

     A Unicode code unit is a 16-bit char value. For example, imagine a String that contains the letters "abc" followed by the Deseret LONG I, which is represented with two char values. That string contains four characters, four code points, but five code units.

   • 1997, Cay S Horstmann, Gary Cornell, Core Java 1.1: Fundamentals

     Chars can be considered as integers if need be without an explicit cast.

   • 1998, John R Hubbard, Schaum's Outline of Theory and Problems of Fundamentals of Computing with C++

     Then since each char occupies one byte, these four bytes represent the three letters 'B', 'y', 'e', and the null character NUL.

   • 2000, Ken Brownsey, The essence of data structures using C++

     Thus string variables are pointer variables to chars.

   • 2002, Nell B. Dale, Michael McMillan, Visual Basic .NET: a laboratory course - Page 25

     .NET uses the Unicode character set in which each char constant or variable takes up two bytes (16 bits) of storage.

Derived terms

• signed char
• unsigned char

Related terms

• byte
• double
• float
• int
• long
• short

Etymology 5

Noun

char ‎(uncountable)

1. (Britain) Alternative form of cha

Anagrams

• arch, arch., Rach, rach

Esperanto

Conjunction

char

1. H-system spelling of ĉar

French

Etymology

From Old French char, from Latin carrus, a loan from Transalpine Gaulish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃaʁ/

Noun

char m ‎(plural chars)

1. chariot, carriage
2. (military) tank
3. (Quebec, Louisiana) car, auto

Synonyms

• (car): voiture

Irish

Etymology

cha +‎ -r

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [xaɾˠ]

Particle

char (triggers lenition of the following verb)

1. (Ulster) not

   Char dhún mé é.‎ ― I did not close it.

   Char chuala mé é.‎ ― I did not hear it.

Usage notes

Used only in some varieties of Ulster Irish. Used only with the past tense of regular verbs and some irregular verbs.

Related terms

• cha (used before other tenses)

Synonyms

• níor (used in Munster Irish, Connacht Irish, and some varieties of Ulster Irish)

Middle French

Alternative forms

• chair

Etymology

From Old French char, charn.

Noun

char f (plural chars)

1. flesh

Descendants

• French: chair

Old French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃar/
• Rhymes: -ar

Etymology 1

From earlier charn, carn, from Latin carnem, accusative singular of carō.

Alternative forms

• car
• carn (early Old French)
• charn (early Old French)

Noun

char f ‎(oblique plural chars, nominative singular char, nominative plural chars)

1. (anatomy) flesh (tissue from an animal in general)
   • 12^th Century, Unknown, Raoul de Cambrai:

     Desor l'espaule li fist la char trenchier

     under his should, he cut into his flesh

   1. meat (flesh of an animal intended to be eaten)

Descendants

• Middle French: char, chair
  • French: chair

Etymology 2

From Latin carrus.

Alternative forms

• carr

Noun

char m ‎(oblique plural chars, nominative singular chars, nominative plural char)

1. cart

Synonyms

• carre f

Descendants

• French: char

Romani

Noun

char f ‎(plural chara)

1. grass
2. field

Romansch

Etymology

From Latin cārus.

Adjective

char m (feminine singular chara, masculine plural chars, feminine plural charas)

1. dear

Welsh

Noun

char m

1. aspirate mutation of car ‎(“car”)

Mutation