English [ edit ]
Alternative forms [ edit ]
Etymology [ edit ]
From Middle English behavoure , behaver , from behave , with -ior apparently in imitation of English havior , haviour , havour . Compare Scots havings ( “ behavior ” ) , from have ( “ to behave ” ) . Displaced Old English ġebǣru .
Pronunciation [ edit ]
behavior (usually uncountable , plural behaviors ) ( American spelling )
( uncountable ) Human conduct relative to social norms.
( countable , uncountable ) The way a living creature behaves or acts generally.
( uncountable , informal ) A state of probation about one's conduct.
He was on his best behavior when her family visited.
( countable , uncountable , biology , psychology ) Observable response produced by an organism.
( uncountable ) The way a device or system operates.
Usage notes [ edit ]
Adjectives often applied to "behavior": human, animal, physical, chemical, mechanical, electrical, organizational, corporate, social, collective, parental, interpersonal, sexual, criminal, appropriate, inappropriate, correct, incorrect, right, wrong, good, bad, acceptable, unacceptable, poor, ethical, unethical, moral, immoral, responsible, irresponsible, normal, odd, deviant, abnormal, violent, abusive, aggressive, offensive, defensive, rude, stupid, undesirable, verbal, nonverbal, learned, professional, unprofessional, adaptive, compulsive, questionable, assertive, disgusting, self-destructive, surreal.
Derived terms [ edit ]
Related terms [ edit ]
Translations [ edit ]
way an animal or human behaves or acts
Afrikaans: gedrag (af)
Albanian: sjellje (sq) f
Arabic: سُلُوك m ( sulūk ) , تَصَرُّف m ( taṣarruf )
Gulf Arabic: سلوك m ( silūk ) , اسلوب ( islūb )
Armenian: վարք (hy) ( varkʻ )
Assamese: ব্যৱহাৰ ( byowohar ) , আচৰণ ( asoron )
Azerbaijani: qılıq , davranış (az) , rəftar (az)
Belarusian: паво́дзіны f pl ( pavódziny )
Bengali: আচরণ (bn) ( acoron ) , সুলুক (bn) ( śuluk )
Bulgarian: поведе́ние (bg) n ( povedénie ) , държа́ние (bg) n ( dǎržánie )
Burmese: အပြုအမူ (my) ( a.pru.a.mu ) , အချိုး (my) ( a.hkyui: )
Catalan: conducta (ca) f , comportament (ca) m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 行為 / 行为 ( hang4 wai4 )
Hokkien: 行為 / 行为 (zh-min-nan) ( hêng-ûi )
Mandarin: 行為 / 行为 (zh) ( xíngwéi )
Czech: chování (cs) n , jednání (cs) n
Danish: opførsel (da) c , adfærd
Dutch: gedrag (nl) n , gedragingen (nl) pl
Esperanto: konduto (eo) , agmaniero
Estonian: käitumine (et)
Finnish: käytös (fi) , käyttäytyminen (fi)
French: comportement (fr) m
Galician: comportamento (gl) m
Georgian: ქცევა (ka) ( kceva ) , საქციელი ( sakcieli )
German: Verhalten (de) n , Benehmen (de) n , Betragen (de) n , Verhaltensweise (de) f , Gebaren (de) n
Gothic: 𐌿𐍃𐌼𐌴𐍄 n ( usmēt )
Greek: συμπεριφορά (el) f ( symperiforá )
Gujarati: આચરણ n ( ācaraṇ )
Hebrew: הִתְנַהֲגוּת (he) f ( hitnahagút )
Hindi: बर्ताव (hi) m ( bartāv ) , व्यवहार (hi) m ( vyavhār ) , सलूक (hi) m ( salūk )
Hungarian: magatartás (hu) , viselkedés (hu) , magaviselet (hu)
Icelandic: hegðun (is) f
Interlingua: comportamento
Irish: iompar m , iompraíocht f
Italian: comportamento (it) m
Japanese: 振る舞い (ja) ( ふるまい, furumai ) , 行儀 (ja) ( ぎょうぎ, gyōgi ) , 行動 (ja) ( こうどう, kōdō )
Kazakh: мінез-құлық ( mınez-qūlyq )
Khmer: ចរិយា (km) ( caʼreyaa ) , កិរិយា (km) ( keriyaa ) , ចរិត (km) ( caʼrət )
Korean: 행위(行爲) (ko) ( haeng'wi ) , 행동(行動) (ko) ( haengdong ) , 거동(擧動) (ko) ( geodong )
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ڕەفتار (ckb) ( reftar )
Northern Kurdish: reftar (ku)
Kyrgyz: жүрүм-турум ( jürüm-turum ) , жүрүш-туруш ( jürüş-turuş )
Lao: ການປະພຶດ (lo) ( kān pa phưt )
Latin: actio (la) , actus (la)
Latvian: uzvedība f
Lithuanian: elgesys m
Macedonian: однесување n ( odnesuvanje )
Malay: perilaku
Malayalam: സ്വഭാവം (ml) ( svabhāvaṁ ) , പെരുമാറ്റം (ml) ( perumāṟṟaṁ )
Maori: whanonga
Norwegian:
Bokmål: oppførsel , adferd m or f
Old English: ġebǣru f
Persian: رفتار (fa) ( raftâr ) , سلوک (fa) ( soluk )
Polish: zachowanie (pl) n , behawior (pl) m
Portuguese: comportamento (pt) m , conduta (pt) f
Romanian: comportament (ro) n
Russian: поведе́ние (ru) n ( povedénije )
Sanskrit: नीति (sa) f ( nīti )
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: пона́ша̄ње n
Roman: ponášānje (sh) n
Sinhalese: හැසිරීම n ( hæsirīma )
Slovak: vystupovanie n , správanie n , chovanie n
Slovene: obnašanje n , vedenje n
Spanish: comportamiento (es) m , conducta (es) f , proceder (es) m
Swedish: beteende (sv) n , uppförande (sv) n
Sylheti: ꠛꠦꠛꠀꠞ ( beboar )
Tagalog: ugali
Tajik: рафтор (tg) ( raftor ) , кирдор ( kirdor ) , сулук ( suluk )
Tatar: тотыш (tt) ( totış )
Telugu: ప్రవర్తన (te) ( pravartana )
Thai: พฤติกรรม (th) ( prʉ́t-dtì-gam ) , จริต (th) ( jà-rìt ) , กิริยา (th) ( gì-rí-yaa ) , ประพฤติ (th) ( bprà-prʉ́t ) , จริยา (th) ( jà-rí-yaa )
Tocharian B: spārttalyñe
Tok Pisin: pasin (tpi)
Turkish: davranış (tr) , tutum (tr)
Turkmen: häsiýet , boluş (tk)
Ukrainian: поведі́нка f ( povedínka )
Urdu: سلوک m ( salūk )
Uyghur: قىلىق ( qiliq )
Uzbek: qiliq (uz) , xulq-odat , fe'latvor , xulq (uz)
Vietnamese: hành vi (vi)
Yiddish: אויפֿפֿיר ( oyffir )
way matter or systems behave
Afrikaans: gedrag (af)
Arabic: سُلُوك ( sulūk )
Bengali: আচরণ (bn) ( acoron )
Breton: emzalc'h (br) m , doare d'ober m
Bulgarian: поведе́ние (bg) n ( povedénie )
Catalan: comportament (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 行為 / 行为 (zh) ( xíngwéi )
Czech: chování (cs) n
Danish: opførsel (da) c
Dutch: gedrag (nl) n , gedragingen (nl) f pl
Finnish: käytös (fi) , käyttäytyminen (fi)
French: comportement (fr) m , conduite (fr) f
German: Verhalten (de) n , Betragen (de) n , Benehmen (de) n , Verhaltensweise (de) f , Führung (de) f
Greek: συμπεριφορά (el) f ( symperiforá )
Hebrew: הִתְנַהֲגוּת (he) f ( hitnahagút )
Hungarian: működés (hu)
Indonesian: tingkah laku (id) , perilaku (id) , sifat (id) , kebiasaan
Irish: iompraíocht f
Italian: comportamento (it) m , condotta (it) f
Japanese: 振舞い (ja) ( ふるまい , furumai) , 行儀 (ja) ( ぎょうぎ , gyōgi) , 行動 (ja) ( こうどう , kōdō) , 反応 (ja) ( はんのう , hannō)
Korean: 행동 (ko) ( haengdong )
Maltese: mġiba f
Maori: whanonga
Norwegian: oppførsel , oppførsel
Polish: zachowanie (pl) n , postępowanie (pl) n , maniery (pl) pl
Portuguese: comportamento (pt) m
Romanian: comportare (ro) f , comportament (ro) n , purtare (ro) f
Russian: поведе́ние (ru) n ( povedénije )
Scottish Gaelic: dol a-mach m , giùlan m
Spanish: comportamiento (es) m
Swahili: tabia (sw)
Swedish: beteende (sv) n
Telugu: ప్రవర్తన (te) ( pravartana ) , నడత (te) ( naḍata )
Turkish: davranış (tr)
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
in biology and psychology
Translations to be checked
Arabic: (please verify ) سُلُوك ( sulūk )
Breton: (please verify ) emzalc'h (br) m , (please verify ) doare d'ober m
French: (please verify ) comportement (fr) m
German: (please verify ) Verhalten (de) n , (please verify ) Betragen (de) n , (please verify ) Benehmen (de) n , (please verify ) Verhaltensweise (de) f , (please verify ) Führung (de) f
Indonesian: (please verify ) tingkah laku (id) , (please verify ) perilaku (id) , (please verify ) sifat (id) , (please verify ) kebiasaan (id)
Italian: (please verify ) comportamento (it) m
Japanese: (please verify ) 振舞い (ja) ( ふるまい , furumai) , (please verify ) 行儀 (ja) ( ぎょうぎ , gyōgi) , (please verify ) 行動 (ja) ( こうどう , kōdō) , (please verify ) 反応 (ja) ( はんのう , hannō)
Korean: (please verify ) 행동 (ko) ( haengdong )
Lithuanian: (please verify ) elgesys m
Swedish: (please verify ) beteende (sv) n , (please verify ) uppförande (sv)
Turkish: (please verify ) davranış (tr)
Further reading [ edit ]
"behavior" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 43.
“behavior ”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary , Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam , 1913 , →OCLC .
“behavior ”, in The Century Dictionary [ … ] , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co. , 1911 , →OCLC .