characteristic vs peripheral

characteristic

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

  • 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. 

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

peripheral

noun
  • Peripheral vision. 

  • A peripheral device. 

adj
  • Related to or located in the peripheral nervous system. 

  • Unimportant. 

  • Beside the point. 

  • On the periphery or boundary. 

  • Auxiliary. 

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