temperament

See also: Temperament and tempérament

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English temperament, borrowed from Middle French tempérament, from Latin temperāmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛm.pəɹ.ə.mənt/, /-pə.ɹə-/, /-pɹə-/, /-pə(ɹ)-/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

temperament (countable and uncountable, plural temperaments)

1. A person's usual manner of thinking, behaving or reacting.
   • 1928, Franklin D. Roosevelt, The Happy Warrior Alfred E. Smith‎^[1], Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC, →OL, page 13:

     President Taft did not have the temperament either to dominate or to work with his Congress.

2. A tendency to become irritable or angry.
3. (music) The altering of certain intervals from their correct values in order to improve the moving from key to key.
4. (psychology) Individual differences in behavior that are biologically based and are relatively independent of learning, system of values and attitudes.
5. (obsolete) A moderate and proportionable mixture of elements or ingredients in a compound; the condition in which elements are mixed in their proper proportions.
   • 1624, John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVIII., in The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Donne, ed. Charles M. Coffin, New York: Modern Library (1952), pp. 442-444:

     If I will aske meere Philosophers, what the soule is, I shall finde amongst them, that will tell me, it is nothing, but the temperament and harmony, and just and equall composition of the Elements in the body, which produces all those faculties which we ascribe to the soule […]

6. (obsolete) Any state or condition as determined by the proportion of its ingredients or the manner in which they are mixed; consistence, composition; mixture.

Derived terms

• artistic temperament
• circular temperament
• circulating temperament
• equal temperament
• good temperament
• Helmholtz temperament
• intemperament
• judicial temperament
• meantone temperament
• miracle temperament
• quasi-Pythagorean temperament
• schismic temperament
• temperamented
• well temperament

Translations

a person's normal manner of thinking, behaving or reacting

• Arabic: طَبْع (ar) m (ṭabʕ)
• Belarusian: тэмпэра́мент m (temperámjent), тэмпэра́мэнт m (temperáment), хара́ктар (be) m (xaráktar), но́раў m (nóraw)
• Bulgarian: темпераме́нт (bg) m (temperamént), нрав (bg) m (nrav)
• Catalan: temperament (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 氣質 / 气质 (zh-min-nan) (khì-chit)

  Mandarin: 氣質 / 气质 (zh) (qìzhì), 性格 (zh) (xìnggé), 性情 (zh) (xìngqíng), 脾氣 / 脾气 (zh) (píqi)

• Czech: temperament m
• Danish: temperament n
• Dutch: temperament (nl) n
• Esperanto: humoro (eo), animagordo, temperamento (eo)
• Finnish: luonne (fi), temperamentti (fi)
• French: tempérament (fr) m
• Galician: temperamento (gl) m, tempero m
• German: Temperament (de) n, Charakter (de) m, Veranlagung (de) f
• Greek: ιδιοσυγκρασία (el) (idiosygkrasía)
• Hebrew: מֶזֶג (he) m (mézeg)
• Hindi: स्वभाव (hi) m (svabhāv)
• Italian: temperamento (it) m, carattere (it) m
• Japanese: 気質 (ja) (きしつ, kishitsu), 気性 (ja) (きしょう, kishō), 性格 (ja) (せいかく, seikaku)
• Kazakh: қызуқандылық (qızuwqandılıq)
• Korean: 기질(氣質) (ko) (gijil), 성격(性格) (ko) (seonggyeok)
• Latin: temperāmentum n
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: temperament n

  Nynorsk: temperament n

• Persian: خو (fa) (xu)
• Portuguese: temperamento (pt) m, índole (pt) f
• Romanian: temperament (ro) n
• Russian: темпера́мент (ru) m (temperáment), хара́ктер (ru) m (xarákter), нрав (ru) m (nrav)
• Scottish Gaelic: nàdar m
• Spanish: temperamento (es) m
• Thai: พื้นอารมณ์แต่กำเนิด
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: طمر (damar), عرق (ʿırk), طبع (tabʼ)

• Ukrainian: темпера́мент (uk) m (temperáment), хара́ктер (uk) m (xarákter), но́ров m (nórov), вда́ча (uk) f (vdáča)

a tendency to become irritable or angry

• Bulgarian: раздразнителност (bg) f (razdraznitelnost)
• Danish: temperament c
• Dutch: temperament (nl) n
• Finnish: temperamentti (fi), tulisieluisuus
• Galician: temperamento (gl) m
• German: Temperament (de) n
• Spanish: temperamento (es) m

the altering of certain intervals from their correct values in order to improve the moving from key to key

• Bulgarian: темперация f (temperacija)
• Czech: temperatura (cs) f
• Dutch: temperament (nl) n
• Finnish: temperointi, viritys (fi)
• German: Stimmung (de) f
• Irish: réiteacht f
• Persian: اعتدال (fa) (e'tedâl)

psychology

• Bulgarian: темперамент (bg) m (temperament)
• Finnish: temperamentti (fi)

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “temperament”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin temperāmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [təm.pə.ɾəˈme̞n]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [təm.pə.ɾəˈment]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [təm.pə.ɾəˈmen]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [tem.pe.ɾaˈment]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [tem.pe.ɾaˈmen]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

temperament m (plural temperaments)

1. temperament

Further reading

• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “temperament”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)
• “temperament”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “temperament”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

Czech

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *temp-der.?

Proto-Indo-European *temh₁-der.?

Proto-Italic *tempos

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin temperō

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom

Proto-Italic *-mentom

Latin -mentum

Latin temperāmentumder.

Czech temperament

Derived from Latin temperāmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtɛmpɛramɛnt]
• Rhymes: -amɛnt
• Hyphenation: tem‧pe‧ra‧ment

Noun

temperament m inan (relational adjective temperamentní)

1. (psychology) temperament, disposition

   Synonyms: povaha, letora, nátura

2. liveliness, vivacity, temper

   Synonym: živost

Declension

Declension of temperament (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	temperament	temperamenty
genitive	temperamentu	temperamentů
dative	temperamentu	temperamentům
accusative	temperament	temperamenty
vocative	temperamente	temperamenty
locative	temperamentu	temperamentech
instrumental	temperamentem	temperamenty

Further reading

• “temperament”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “temperament”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “temperament”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Danish

Etymology

Via French tempérament, from Latin temperāmentum.

Noun

temperament n (singular definite temperamentet, plural indefinite temperamenter)

1. temperament
2. a temperamental nature; a temper

Declension

Declension of temperament

neuter gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	temperament	temperamentet	temperamenter	temperamenterne
genitive	temperaments	temperamentets	temperamenters	temperamenternes

Derived terms

• temperamentsfuld
• temperamentsspørgsmål

See also

• sindelag

References

• “temperament” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French tempérament, from Latin temperāmentum.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tem‧pe‧ra‧ment

Noun

temperament n (plural temperamenten, diminutive temperamentje n)

1. (psychology) the usual mood of a person, or typical manner of thinking, behaving, and acting; temperament, temper, mood

   Oorspronkelijk waren in de Griekse oudheid de temperamenten de naam voor vier persoonlijkheidstypen: het sanguïnische, flegmatische, cholerische en melancholische temperament.^Temperament

   Originally, in Greek antiquity, the temperaments were the names of the four personality types: the sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholy temperaments.

2. temperament: a tendency to become irritable or angry, temper
3. (music) temperament: a specific system of note pitches of a musical instrument

Descendants

• → Indonesian: temperamen

Maltese

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian temperamento.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛm.pɛ.raˈmɛnt/
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

temperament m (plural temperamenti)

1. temperament, disposition

Related terms

• intemperanza
• mezzutemp
• temp
• temperamentali
• temperanza
• temperat
• temperatura
• tempesta
• tempestuż
• temporanjament
• temporanju

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin temperāmentum.

Noun

temperament n (definite singular temperamentet, indefinite plural temperament or temperamenter, definite plural temperamenta or temperamentene)

1. temperament
2. a temperamental nature

Derived terms

• temperamentsfull

References

• “temperament” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “temperament” in Norwegian Academy Dictionary (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin temperāmentum.

Noun

temperament n (definite singular temperamentet, indefinite plural temperament, definite plural temperamenta)

1. temperament
2. a temperamental nature

Derived terms

• temperamentsfull

References

• “temperament” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *temp-der.?

Proto-Indo-European *temh₁-der.?

Proto-Italic *tempos

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin temperō

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom

Proto-Italic *-mentom

Latin -mentum

Latin temperāmentumlbor.

Middle French tempérament

French tempéramentbor.

Polish temperament

Borrowed from French tempérament.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛm.pɛˈra.mɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -amɛnt
• Syllabification: tem‧pe‧ra‧ment

Noun

temperament m inan (diminutive temperamencik)

1. temperament, character

Declension

Declension of temperament

	singular	plural
nominative	temperament	temperamenty
genitive	temperamentu	temperamentów
dative	temperamentowi	temperamentom
accusative	temperament	temperamenty
instrumental	temperamentem	temperamentami
locative	temperamencie	temperamentach
vocative	temperamencie	temperamenty

Further reading

• “temperament”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “temperament”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French tempérament, from Latin temperāmentum.

Noun

temperament n (plural temperamente)

1. temperament

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	temperament	temperamentul	temperamente	temperamentele
genitive-dative	temperament	temperamentului	temperamente	temperamentelor
vocative	temperamentule		temperamentelor

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Temperament.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /temperǎment/
• Hyphenation: tem‧pe‧ra‧ment

Noun

temperàment m inan (Cyrillic spelling темпера̀мент)

1. (psychology) temperament

Declension

Declension of temperament

	singular	plural
nominative	temperàment	temperamenti
genitive	temperamenta	temperàmenātā
dative	temperamentu	temperamentima
accusative	temperament	temperamente
vocative	temperamente	temperamenti
locative	temperamentu	temperamentima
instrumental	temperamentom	temperamentima

References

• “temperament”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026