Also spelled behaviour

US /bɪˈheɪ.vjɚ/ UK /bɪˈheɪ.vjə(ɹ)/
noun Freq #2747

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    The way a person acts, especially toward other people.

    The teacher praised the children for their good behavior.

  2. 2
    noun

    The way an animal, machine, or substance acts under certain conditions.

    The behavior of small particles can be studied in experiments.

Thesaurus

Word family
Forms behaviors
Derived forms behavioralbehavioralismbehavioralistbehavioremebehaviorismbehavioristbehavioristicbehaviormetricbehaviormetricsbehaviorwiseeigenbehaviormacrobehavior
Related forms behave

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁epsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁epider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- 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-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 equival…

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