What does "trait" mean?

1. (personality or character) a quality that is part of your personality. 2. (biological feature) a physical quality that is passed from parents to children through genes. 3. (computing) a set of methods used in computer programming to give extra powers to a class.

How do you use "trait"?

Often used in the context of heredity and evolution. Common in languages like Rust, Scala, and PHP.

trait

US //ˈtɹeɪt// UK //tɹˈeɪt// trait

1 personality or character (n.)
B2 Upper Intermediate

a quality that is part of your personality.

a distinguishing feature of a person's character or nature.

Example

Patience is a very important trait for a primary school teacher to have.

Example

The candidate's most impressive trait was her ability to remain composed under intense questioning from the board.
2 biological feature (n.)
B2 Upper Intermediate Technical Science

a physical quality that is passed from parents to children through genes.

a genetically determined characteristic or condition.

Example

Eye colour is a physical trait that you inherit from your parents.

Example

Researchers are investigating which specific genetic traits make certain plant species more resistant to drought.

Usage

Often used in the context of heredity and evolution.
- property
- quality

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3 computing (n.)
C2 Proficiency Technical Computing

a set of methods used in computer programming to give extra powers to a class.

a collection of methods that provides functionality to a class, used as a tool for code reuse in object-oriented programming.

Example

The programmer used a trait to share the same code between two different objects.

Example

By implementing the trait, the developer ensured that multiple classes could share the same logging behaviour without complex inheritance.

Usage

Common in languages like Rust, Scala, and PHP.

Teacher's tip

This is a highly specialized technical sense; general learners only need the character-based definition.
- interface
- mixin

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French trait (“line, feature”), from Latin tractus (“drawing, pulling”), from Latin trahō. Doublet of tract.