GeezerVison

See also: behaviour

English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₁éps

Proto-Indo-European *-i

Proto-Indo-European *h₁épider.

Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi

Proto-Germanic *bi

Proto-Germanic *bi-

Proto-West Germanic *bi-

substratebor.?

Proto-Indo-European *kap-der.

Proto-Germanic *habjaną

Proto-West Germanic *habbjan

Proto-West Germanic *bihabbjan

Old English behabban

Middle English behaven

Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ-

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti

Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰéh₁yeti

Proto-Italic *haβēō

Latin habeō

Old French avoirbor.

Middle English havour

Middle English behavoure

English behavior

From Middle English behavoure, behaver, from behaven (modern behave), morphologically equivalent to behave +‎ -ior. The suffix was adopted in imitation of havour (modern haviour, havior), an etymologically unrelated word that was corrupted from Anglo‐Norman Anglo-Norman aveir and Old French Old French avoir (“property, wealth”) through false association with the native English verb have. The French term derives ultimately from Latin Latin habēre (“to have, hold”).

Compare Scots havings (“behavior”), from have (“to behave”). Replaced Old English ġebǣru.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɪˈheɪ.vjə/
(General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /bɪˈheɪ.vjəɹ/
- Audio (Texas): (file)
- Audio (US): (file)
(Australia) IPA^(key): /bɪˈhæɪ.vjə/
(New Zealand) IPA^(key): /bəˈhæɪ.vjə/
Rhymes: -eɪvjə(ɹ)
Hyphenation: be‧ha‧vior

Noun

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

(uncountable) Human conduct relative to social norms.
- 2014 September 23, A teacher, “Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 October 2026:
  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.
(countable) An inappropriate or forbidden action.
When a patient has a behavior, document it in their records.
(countable, uncountable) The way or manner 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) An observable response produced by an organism.
(uncountable) The way a device or system operates.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

behave

Collocations

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.

Translations

way an animal or human behaves or acts — see also comportment,‎ conduct,‎ demeanor,‎ attitude

Afrikaans: gedrag (af)
Albanian: sjellje (sq) f
Arabic: سُلُوك m (sulūk), تَصَرُّف m (taṣarruf)
Gulf Arabic: سلوك m (sulūk), أسلوب (uslūb)
Armenian: վարք (hy) (varkʻ)
Assamese: ব্যৱহাৰ (byowohar), আচৰণ (asoron)
Azerbaijani: qılıq, davranış (az), rəftar (az)
Bashkir: ҡылыҡ (qïlïq), тәртип (tärtip)
Basque: jokabide, jokaera, portaera
Belarusian: паво́дзіны f pl (pavódziny)
Bengali: আচরণ (bn) (acoron), সুলুক (bn) (śuluk)
Bulgarian: поведе́ние (bg) n (povedénie), държа́ние (bg) n (dăržánie)
Burmese: အပြုအမူ (my) (a.pru.a.mu), အချိုး (my) (a.hkyui:)
Catalan: conducta (ca) f, comportament (ca) m
Chechen: лелар (lelar)
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), 舉止 / 举止 (zh) (jǔzhǐ)
Czech: chování (cs) n, jednání (cs) n
Danish: opførsel (da) c, adfærd c
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), आचरण (hi) m (ācraṇ), सलूक (hi) m (salūk), सुलूक (hi) m (sulūk), रवैया (hi) m (ravaiyā)
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 (minez-qulıq), құлық (qulıq)
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) f
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)
Māori: whanonga
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: байдал (mn) (baidal), зан (mn) (zan), зан байдал (zan baidal), зан араншин (zan aranšin)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: oppførsel m, adferd (no) m or f
Old English: ġebǣru f
Pashto: چلند (ps) m (čaland), سلوک (ps) m (soluk)
Persian:
Iranian Persian: رَفْتار (raftâr), سُلوک (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

Latin: ponášānje (sh) n
Sinhalese: හැසිරීම n (hæsirīma)
Slovak: vystupovanie n, správanie n, chovanie n
Slovene: obnašanje n, vedenje n
Spanish: proceder (es) m, comporte (es) m
Swedish: beteende (sv) n, uppförande (sv) n, åtfärd c (dated)
Sylheti: ꠛꠦꠛꠀꠞ (beboar)
Tagalog: ugali
Tajik: рафтор (tg) (raftor), кирдор (kirdor), сулук (suluk)
Tatar: тотыш (tt) (totış), тәртип (tt) (tärtip)
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), การประพฤติ (th) (gaan-bprà-prʉ́t)
Tocharian B: spārttalyñe
Tok Pisin: pasin (tpi)
Turkish: davranış (tr), tutum (tr)
Ottoman Turkish: حركت (hareket)
Turkmen: häsiýet, boluş (tk)
Ukrainian: поведі́нка f (povedínka)
Urdu: سُلُوک m (sulūk), رَوَیَّہ m (ravayya)
Uyghur: قىلىق (qiliq)
Uzbek: qiliq (uz), xulq-odat, fe'latvor, xulq (uz)
Vietnamese: hành vi (vi) (行爲)
Welsh: ymddygiad (cy) m
Yiddish: אויפֿפֿיר (oyffir)
Zhuang: hingzveiz

way matter or systems behave — see also comportment

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)
Hindi: आचरण (hi) m (ācraṇ)
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(行動) (ko) (haengdong)
Maltese: mġiba f
Māori: whanonga
Norwegian:
Bokmål: oppførsel m
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
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)
Catalan: comportament (ca) m
Finnish: käyttäytyminen (fi)
Polish: behawior (pl) m, zachowanie (pl) n
Portuguese: comportamento (pt) m
Welsh: ymddygiad (cy) 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

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)