The word translated as charity is elsewhere translated love. There are four primary words translated as love in the Greek, (some say five). Context is the easiest way to figure its meaning but a look at the underlying Greek is necessary in some cases.
All of these words are translated love:
The Five Loves
Epithelia — Legitimate physical desire
(disordered form: lust)
Eros — Romantic love or sexual love
(disordered form: leads to illicit relationships, treating others as gods and sole sources of our personal needs)
Storgē — Affection or belonging, as shared by family members
(disordered form: disdain or ungratefulness; taking for granted)
Phileo — Friendship and companionship, a love of openness that is occupied with common interests and activities
(disordered form: manipulative relationships, one-upmanship, cliques)
Agapē — A willful choice to put another’s interests above one’s own; an unselfish, giving (even to the point of sacrifice), and unconditional love
(with God as its source, it is never disordered; elevates and correctly orders the other four loves, making them human-divine loves that fulfill God’s original intentions)