charter

The word “charter” means an official document that creates an organisation or grants specific rights, freedoms, or powers. In plain terms, a formal founding document, or to rent a vehicle/vessel exclusively.

“Charter” is pronounced CHAH-tuh (/ˈt͡ʃɑɹtɚ/ in IPA).

Here is “charter” used in a sentence: “The city charter dates back to the 1800s.”

Depending on how it is used, “charter” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “charter” comes from Latin. From Old French chartre, from Latin chartula, a diminutive of charta — related to "chart," and a doublet of "chartula.".

“Charter” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the C1 level.

“Charter” has 4 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: an official document that creates an organisation or grants specific rights, freedoms, or powers.

Both are founding documents, but a charter typically creates an organisation or grants specific rights, freedoms, or powers to it. A constitution sets out the fundamental rules and governing structure of a state or body, so a charter often establishes something that a constitution then governs.

This uses the sense of charter as the renting of a vehicle, boat, or plane for private or exclusive use. A charter flight is booked for a specific group's exclusive use on their chosen route, whereas a scheduled flight runs on a fixed public timetable open to any ticket buyer.