is peculiarly used in grammar, for the principal letter of a word; which is preserved in most of its tenses and moods, its derivatives and compounds.

CHARACTERISTIC of a Logarithm, is its index or exponent. See LOGARITHM.

CHARACTERISTIC Triangle of a Curve, in the higher geometry, is a rectilinear right-angled triangle, whose hypotenuse makes a part of the curve, not sensibly different from a right line. It is so called, because curve lines are used to be distinguished hereby. See CURVE.