behavior

See also: behaviour

English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

From Middle English behavoure, behaver, equivalent to behave +‎ -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/
Rhymes: -eɪvjə(ɹ)
Hyphenation: be‧ha‧vior

Noun

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

(uncountable) Human conduct relative to social norms.
- 2014, A teacher, "Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents", The Guardian, 23 September 2014:
  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.
(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) An instance of the way a living creature behaves.
(countable, uncountable, biology, psychology) Observable response produced by an organism.
(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
health behavior
human behavior
ialectical behavior therapy
ideal-seeking behavior
photobehavior
routine response behavior

Related terms

behave

Translations

way an animal or human behaves or acts

Albanian: sjellje (sq) f
Arabic: سُلُوك‎ m (sulūk), تَصَرُّف‎ m (taṣarruf)
Gulf Arabic: سلوك‎ m (silūk), اسلوب‎ (islūb)
Armenian: վարք (hy) (varkʿ)
Assamese: ব্যৱহাৰ (byowohar), আচৰণ (asoron)
Azerbaijani: qılıq, davranış (az), rəftar (az)
Belarusian: паво́дзіны f pl (pavódziny)
Bengali: আচরণ (bn) (acôrôṇô)
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)
Mandarin: 行為／行为 (zh) (xíngwéi)
Min Nan: 行為 (zh-min-nan), 行为 (hêng-ûi)
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 (ku) (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) (svabhāvaṃ), പെരുമാറ്റം (ml) (perumāṟṟaṃ)
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

Arabic: سُلُوك‎ (sulūk)
Bengali: আচরণ (bn) (acôrôṇô)
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

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)