behavior

See also: behaviour

English

Alternative forms

• behaviour (UK)
• behavoure, behavier, behavor, behavour (all obsolete)

Etymology

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

• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɪˈheɪvjɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɪˈheɪvjə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvjə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: be‧ha‧vior

Noun

behavior (usually uncountable, plural behaviors) (American spelling)

1. (uncountable) Human conduct relative to social norms.
   • 2014 September 23, A teacher, “Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents”, in The Guardian:

     Teachers will probably be on their best behaviour for your visit – but don't be upset if they don't even notice you; they've got enough going on.

2. (countable, uncountable) The way a living creature behaves or acts generally.
3. (uncountable, informal) A state of probation about one's conduct.

   He was on his best behavior when her family visited.

4. (countable, uncountable, biology, psychology) Observable response produced by an organism.
5. (uncountable) The way a device or system operates.

Usage notes

• 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

• behavioral
• behavioralism
• behavioralist
• behavioral science
• behaviorism
• behaviorist
• behavioristic
• behaviormetric
• behaviormetrics
• behavior pattern
• dialectical behavior therapy
• health behavior
• human behavior
• ideal-seeking behavior
• photobehavior
• routine response behavior

 

Related terms

• behave

Translations

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

• Afrikaans: gedrag (af)
• Finnish: käyttäytyminen (fi)
• Polish: behawior (pl) m, zachowanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: comportamento (pt) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

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

• "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.