character
[kar´ak-ter] 1. a quality or attribute indicative of the nature of an object or organism.
2. in genetics, an observable property of an organism that is under genetic control; a trait.
3. in psychiatry, a term used, especially in the psychoanalytic literature, in much the same way as
personality, particularly for those personality traits shaped by life experiences and developmental processes. Compare
temperament.
acquired character a noninheritable modification produced in an animal as a result of its own activities or of environmental influences.
dominant character a mendelian character that is expressed when it is transmitted by a single gene.
mendelian c's in genetics, the separate and distinct traits exhibited by an animal or plant and dependent on the genetic constitution of the organism.
primary sex c's those traits of the male and female directly concerned in reproduction.
recessive character a mendelian character that is expressed only when transmitted by both genes (one from each parent) determining the trait.
secondary sex c's those traits specific to the male and female but not directly concerned in reproduction, such as facial hair, voice depth, and distribution of body fat.
sex-conditioned character (sex-influenced character) an autosomal trait whose full expression is conditioned by the sex of the individual, e.g., human baldness.
sex-linked character one transmitted consistently to individuals of one sex only, being carried in the sex chromosome.
Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.