Final answer:
A character literal is a single character enclosed in single quotation marks in a program. It represents a specific character and can be used in variable assignments or comparisons.
Step-by-step explanation:
A character literal is a single character - when referenced in a program, it's enclosed in single quotation marks. In programming languages, such as Java or Python, a character literal represents a specific character, such as 'a', '5', or '&'. It can be used to assign individual characters to variables or used in comparisons and operations.