The story
- Proto-Indo-European*mey-der.?
- Ancient Greekμῑκρός (mīkrós)
- Ancient Greekμῑκρο- (mīkro-)
- Englishmicro-
- Ancient Greekχαράσσω (kharássō)
- Ancient Greekχαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr)
- Latincharactēr
- Old Frenchcaractere
- Middle Englishcaracter
- Englishcharacter
- English todaymicrocharacter
From micro- (“revealed by microscopic examination”) + character (“a distinguishing feature of a taxon”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.