The word "char" has multiple meanings depending on the context:
- In general English usage, "char" as a verb means to burn or cook something until it becomes blackened or partly burnt, like when food is grilled or burned on the outside. For example, "Dad charred the hamburgers on the grill" means the hamburgers were cooked until they had a blackened surface.
- In British English, especially old-fashioned usage, "char" is a noun referring to a charwoman—a woman employed to do cleaning or housework. By extension, "char" can also be an odd job or chore, specifically household work.
- In computing and programming, "char" is short for "character." It's a data type that typically represents a single textual element such as a letter, number, or symbol. In programming languages like C, a char usually occupies one byte of memory and can hold a single character or part of a multi-byte encoding like UTF-8. The term "char" is often used interchangeably with "character" in code.
So the meaning of "char" varies widely, from burning or blackening something, to referring to a cleaning worker or chore, to a fundamental unit of text in computer programming. Understanding the context where the term is used helps determine which sense applies.
