attribute vs modifier

attribute

noun
  • A word that qualifies a noun. 

  • That which is predicated or affirmed of a subject; a predicate; an accident. 

  • A semantic item with which a method or other code element may be decorated. 

  • An object that is considered typical of someone or some function, in particular as an artistic convention. 

  • A characteristic or quality of a thing. 

  • An option or setting belonging to some object. 

verb
  • To ascribe (something) to a given cause, reason etc. 

  • To associate ownership or authorship of (something) to someone. 

modifier

noun
  • A word, phrase, or clause that limits or qualifies the sense of another word or phrase. 

  • One who, or that which, modifies. 

  • A keyword that qualifies the meaning of other code. 

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