The phrase "a characteristic of a" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when describing a specific feature or quality that belongs to a particular subject or category.
Example: "Loyalty is a characteristic of a good friend."
Alternatives: "a trait of a" or "a quality of a".
This was, for example, a characteristic of a computer network designed for the Defense Department in the 1960's.
Abnormal sphingolipid metabolism is a characteristic of a variety of diseases known collectively as sphingolipidosis, or sphingolipodystrophy.
The abundance of such "heavy" water is a characteristic of a water sample and cannot be modified after its formation.
For those inured to sitting through football's nil-nil draws, a characteristic of a sport in which goals are so hard to come by, handball is a revelation.
Semi-automatic rifles, including the AR-15, fire one round with every pull of the trigger – a characteristic of a wide range of modern firearms.
Energy-efficient inference is made possible on sensor nodes by exploiting sparsity, which is a characteristic of a signal that allows us to represent information efficiently.
It would be the sort of thing the Mets might laugh about if it were more indicative of a freakish occurrence than a characteristic of a team 74 games into its 162-game schedule.
Fretting maps were constructed using the obtained experimental data especially the fretting wear coefficient, which is a characteristic of a specific fretting regime.
"It is a characteristic of a social rite," Dr. Bacqué explained, "to have the same structure". The repetitive nature of a ritual imbues it with social meaning, which is larger than an individual.
As a result, a characteristic of a colonizing population might be that it will very clearly demonstrate a preference for gross habitat types, and within these gross habitat types they might locate their settlements in very similar places.
