Character Traits List with Examples
Character traits are the individual characteristics and qualities that make characters from books, stories, movies, plays, and other art forms come to life for readers.
Use the following list of character traits as a guideline when writing book reports and essays about the different characters you’ve read about. Don’t stop with this list, though; you can probably think of many more terms to describe your characters.
Search and explore the definitions of character trait with our sister company Infoplease’s dictionary.
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Values, Morals, and Beliefs Character Traits
- Honest
- Brave
- Compassionate
- Leader
- Courageous
- Unselfish
- Loyal
- Hard-working
- Independent
- Selfish
- Responsible
- Considerate
- Self-confident
- Humble
Looking for a printable list of character traits?
Our printable character traits list features more than 200 characteristics and qualities that your students can use for writing or a character study.
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Physical and Emotional Character Traits
- Poor
- Rich
- Strong
- Tall
- Dark
- Light
- Handsome
- Pretty
- Ugly
- Messy
- Gentle
- Wild
- Joyful
- Busy
- Patriotic
- Neat
- Popular
- Successful
- Short
- Prim
- Proper
- Dainty
- Able
- Fighter
- Tireless
- Plain
- Expert
- Imaginative
- Conceited
- Mischievous
Personality Character Traits
- Demanding
- Thoughtful
- Keen
- Happy
- Disagreeable
- Simple
- Fancy
- Plain
- Excited
- Studious
- Inventive
- Creative
- Thrilling
- Intelligent
- Proud
- Fun-loving
- Daring
- Bright
- Serious
- Funny
- Humorous
- Sad
- Lazy
- Dreamer
- Helpful
- Simple-minded
- Friendly
- Adventurous
- Timid
- Shy
- Pitiful
- Cooperative
- Lovable
- Ambitious
- Quiet
- Curious
- Reserved
- Pleasing
- Bossy
- Witty
- Energetic
- Cheerful
- Smart
- Impulsive
- Humorous
- Sad
- Lazy
- Dreamer
- Helpful
Just like real people, literary characters have behaviors, attitudes, traits, and beliefs that give them a unique personality. These can be surface characteristics, like personality or physical traits – or they can be deeply-held values and morals. Writers develop characters with myriad traits to help readers build empathy or antipathy, relate to the narrative, create realism, and develop various plot points and storylines.
Looking for activities, lessons, and printables on character traits to use in your classroom? View all of our character trait resources here.
Recommended Character Traits Classroom Resources
WORKSHEET
Describe That Character Printable
Describe a character’s physical and personality traits.
Describe a character’s physical and personality traits.
GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Introducing Character Traits
Introduce the concept of character traits in your instruction.
Introduce the concept of character traits in your instruction.
WORKSHEET
Your Character Comes Alive
Answer questions about a character’s implicit and inferred traits.
Answer questions about a character’s implicit and inferred traits.
