Grapheme
The word was used in the sense of letter or grapheme by William Caxton, referring to the Phoenician alphabet, The Fenyces were the fyrst inuentours of caracteris dyfferencing that one fro that other, of whiche were fourmed lettres for to write (Eneydos 6.25). As in Greek, the word was used especially for foreign or mysterious graphemes (such as Chinese, Syriac, or Runic ones) as opposed to the familiar letters; in particular of shorthand (in David Copperfield (chapter 38) sarcastically of shorthand, "a procession of new horrors, called arbitrary characters; the most despotic characters I have ever known"), and since 1949 in computing (see character (computing).
As a collective noun, the word can refer to writing or printing in general (Shakespeare's sonnet nr. 59: Since minde at first in carrecter was done, viz. "since thought was first put in writing").
Read more about this topic: Character (symbol)