characteristic vs individual

characteristic

adj
  • Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing. 

noun
  • A distinguishing feature of a person or thing. 

  • For a given field or ring, a natural number that is either the smallest positive number n such that n instances of the multiplicative identity (1) summed together yield the additive identity (0) or, if no such number exists, the number 0. 

  • The integer part of a logarithm. 

  • The distinguishing features of a navigational light on a lighthouse etc by which it can be identified (colour, pattern of flashes etc.). 

individual

adj
  • Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one. 

  • Intended for a single person as opposed to more than one person. 

  • Not divisible without losing its identity. 

noun
  • An object, be it a thing or an agent, as contrasted to a class. 

  • A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people. 

  • An element belonging to a population. 

  • A single physical human being as a legal subject, as opposed to a legal person such as a corporation. 

How often have the words characteristic and individual occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )