behavior

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

From Middle English behavoure, behaver, from behaven (modern behave), with the ending apparently in imitation of havour (see 'havior), a corruption of Old French aveir and/or avoir (“a having”), ultimately from Latin habēre. Compare Scots havings (“behavior”), from have (“to behave”). Replaced Old English ġebǣru.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɪˈheɪvjə(ɹ)/
(General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /bɪˈheɪvjɚ/
- Audio (US): (file)
(General Australian) IPA^(key): /bɪˈhæɪvjə(ɹ)/
Rhymes: -eɪvjə(ɹ)
(Indic) IPA^(key): /bɪˈheːvɪjɚ/
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 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.
(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.

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

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)
Bashkir: ҡылыҡ (qılıq), тәртип (tərtip)
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
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), 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 (mınez-qūlyq), құлық (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) 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)
Maori: whanonga
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: байдал (mn) (bajdal), зан (mn) (zan), зан байдал (zan bajdal), зан араншин (zan aranšin)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: oppførsel m, adferd (no) m or f
Old English: ġebǣru f
Ottoman Turkish: حركت (hareket)
Pashto: چلند (ps) m (čaland), سلوک (ps) m (soluk)
Persian:
Iranian Persian: رَفْتار (fa) (raftâr), سُلوک (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, 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)
Tocharian B: spārttalyñe
Tok Pisin: pasin (tpi)
Turkish: davranış (tr), tutum (tr)
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

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(行動) (ko) (haengdong)
Maltese: mġiba f
Maori: 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
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)
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)

English