lineament (n.)

early 15c., "distinctive feature of the body, outline," from Middle French lineament, from Latin lineamentum "contour, outline; a feature," literally "a line, stroke, mark," from lineare "to reduce to a straight line" (here apparently in an unrecorded sense "trace lines"), from linea "string, thread, line" (see line (n.)). Figurative sense of "a characteristic" is attested from 1630s.