Dictionary

habitus en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈhæ.bɪ.təs/

Etymology

From Latin habitus (“habit”), from habeō (“have; maintain”). The plural habiti is a misconstruction, as the Latin plural is in fact habitūs. habiti may have been influenced by Latin habitī, the plural of the participle habitus; however, it is not the etymon of the English term.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) Habitude; mode of life; bearing.
2. (qualifier:chiefly invertebrates, uncountable, usually) General appearance.
   • [M]any species having eschariform zoaria in quiet water are able to assume the membraniporiform habitus in strongly agitated water. 1963, Alan H. Cheetham, Late Eocene Zoogeography of the Eastern Gulf Coast Region, page 30:
3. (uncountable, usually) habit
4. (uncountable, usually) the general shape and appearance of the body, usually with reference to weight, adipose distribution, posture, and gait; most often called by the collocation body habitus.
5. (uncountable, usually) The lifestyle, values, dispositions and expectations of particular social groups that are acquired through the activities and experiences of everyday life.
   • A wrestler could gain the rank of ōzeki based on his competitive achievements, but the promotion to yokozuna implied the presence of a certain habitus than embodied the quintessential traditional Japaneseness. 2019, Raúl Sánchez García, “Reformulation, expansion, and hybridisation of Japanese martial arts”, in The Historical Sociology of Japanese Martial Arts (Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society), Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, part III (Martial artists):
6. (uncountable, usually) The liturgical clothing of monks, nuns and the clerical community, metaphorically referring to the religious mode of life.

Forms

Deriveds

cleft habitus

Translations (4)

de Habitus (habitude) · uk габітус (habitude) · fi habitus (habitude) · fi ulkomuoto (habitude)