Amazon

See also: amazon

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæm.ə.zən/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈæm.əˌzɑn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈæm.ə.zɔn/, /-ɒn/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈɛm.ə.zɔn/, /-ɒn/

Etymology 1

From Middle English, from Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἀμαζών (Amazṓn); perhaps Ionian Greek pronunciation of Old Persian *hamazan- (“warrior”), as the Amazon women were known warriors. A popular folk etymology, of Ancient Greek provenance, claims that the word derives from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + μαζός (mazós, “breast”), referencing the belief that Amazons cut off their right breast so that it would not hinder their ability to fire a bow or throw a spear. Compare Bulgarian омъ́жена (omǎ́žena, "married woman") неомъ́жена (neomǎ́žena, "unmarried woman" ).

Noun

Amazon (plural Amazons)

1. (Greek mythology) A member of a mythical race of female warriors inhabiting the Black Sea area.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 149:

     When, therefore, one envisions a matriarchy, one should not conjure up visions of a gang of Amazons lopping off breasts and testicles to rule by force of arms.

2. A female warrior.
3. A tall, strong, or athletic woman.

Translations

Mythological female warrior

• Armenian: ամազոնուհի (hy) (amazonuhi)
• Catalan: amazona (ca) f
• Czech: Amazonka (cs) f
• Esperanto: amazono
• Finnish: amatsoni (fi)
• French: amazone (fr) f
• German: Amazone (de) f
• Greek: Αμαζόνα (el) f (Amazóna)

  Ancient: Ἀμαζών f (Amazṓn)

• Irish: Amasóin f
• Italian: amazzone (it)
• Japanese: アマゾネス (amazonesu), アマゾン (amazon)
• Malayalam: ആമസോൺ (ml) (āmasōṇ)
• Navajo: dłį́, dłį́baa'
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: amasone (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: amasone f

• Polish: Amazonka (pl) f
• Portuguese: amazona (pt) f
• Russian: амазо́нка (ru) f (amazónka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Амазонка f

  Roman: Amazonka f

• Slovak: Amazonka (sk) f
• Spanish: amazona (es) f
• Swedish: amason (sv) c
• Ukrainian: амазо́нка (uk) f (amazónka), амазоня́нка f (amazonjánka)

See also

• gladiatrix
• shieldmaiden
• Valkyrie

 

Etymology 2

From Spanish, Río Amazonas. It is common belief that the Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana fought a battle against a tribe of Tapuya natives, in which the women fought alongside the men, and that he derived the name from the Amazons in Greek mythology.

Proper noun

the Amazon

1. (sometimes attributive) A river in South America that flows through Brazil for about 4000 miles to the South Atlantic.
2. (sometimes attributive) A region including much of this river; specifically, the region of the Amazon Rainforest, or of the Amazon River Basin.

   Amazon milk frog

Derived terms

• Amazon ant
• Amazonian
• Amazon milk frog
• Amazon sword

 

Translations

river

• Albanian: Amazona
• Arabic: نَهْر الأمازون m, الأَمَزونْ m (al-ʔamazōn)
• Armenian: Ամազոն (hy) (Amazon)
• Azerbaijani: Amazon (az)
• Basque: Amazonas
• Belarusian: Амазо́нка f (Amazónka)
• Bengali: আমাজন (amajon)
• Bulgarian: Амазонка f (Amazonka)
• Catalan: Amazones (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 亞馬遜河／亚马逊河 (zh) (Yàmǎxùn Hé, Yǎmǎxùn Hé)

• Czech: Amazonka (cs) f
• Danish: Amazonfloden
• Dutch: Amazone (nl) f
• Esperanto: Amazono
• Estonian: Amazonas (et)
• Farefare: Amazon, Amazɔn, Amazona
• Finnish: Amazon (fi)
• French: Amazone (fr) f
• Galician: Amazonas (gl) m
• Georgian: ამაზონი (amazoni)
• German: Amazonas (de) m
• Greek: Αμαζόνιος (el) m (Amazónios)
• Hebrew: אמזונאס (Amazonas)
• Hindi: अमेज़न (amezan)
• Hungarian: Amazonas (hu)
• Icelandic: Amasónfljót f
• Ido: Amazon
• Indonesian: Amazon
• Inuktitut: ᐋᒪᓱᓐ (aamason)
• Irish: An Amasóin f
• Italian: Rio delle Amazzoni (it) m, Amazzoni (it) f pl
• Japanese: アマゾン (ja) (amazon)
• Kannada: ಅಮೆಜಾನ್ (amejān)
• Kazakh: Амазон (Amazon)
• Korean: 아마존강 (amajon'gang)
• Kyrgyz: Амазонка (Amazonka)
• Lao: ແມ່ນ້ຳອາມາຊົນ (mǣ nam ʼā mā son)
• Latvian: Amazone f
• Lithuanian: Amazonė f
• Macedonian: Амазон m (Amazon)
• Malay: Amazon
• Malayalam: ആമസോൺ (ml) (āmasōṇ)
• Marathi: ऍमेझॉन (‍ĕmejhŏn)
• Nepali: अमेजन (ne) (amejan)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Amazonas (no) f

  Nynorsk: Amazonaselva f

• Persian: آمازون (fa) (âmâzôn)
• Polish: Amazonka (pl) f
• Portuguese: Amazonas (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਐਮਾਜ਼ਾਨ (aimāzān)
• Romanian: Amazon m
• Russian: Амазо́нка (ru) f (Amazónka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Амазон m (Serbia), Амазона f (Croatia)

  Roman: Amazon m (Serbia), Amazona (sh) f (Croatia)

• Slovak: Amazonka (sk) f
• Slovene: Amazonka (sl) f
• Spanish: Amazonas (es) m
• Swedish: Amazonfloden (sv) c
• Tagalog: Amasona
• Tajik: Амазон (Amazon)
• Tamil: அமேசான் ஆறு (amēcāṉ āṟu)
• Telugu: అమెజాన్ (amejān)
• Thai: แม่น้ำแอมะซอน (mɛ̂ɛ-náam-ɛɛ-ma-son)
• Turkish: Amazon Nehri (tr), Amazon (tr)
• Turkmen: Amazonka
• Ukrainian: Амазо́нка f (Amazónka)
• Uzbek: Amazon
• Vietnamese: Sông Amazon

region of the Amazon rainforest — see Amazonia

used attributively in compounds

• Catalan: amazònic
• Finnish: amazonin- (fi)
• French: amazonien (fr) m
• Russian: амазо́нский (ru) (amazónskij)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} амазонски, ^{(please verify)} amazonski (sh)

Noun

Amazon (plural Amazons)

1. Any of the large parrots from the genus Amazona.

Etymology 3

Chosen by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as a word beginning with 'A' which had existing connotations (see meanings listed in etymologies 1 & 2) of being exotic, different, and (as the Amazon River) the largest of its kind in the world.

Proper noun

Amazon

1. Amazon.com Inc., a very large Internet retailer.

Verb

Amazon (third-person singular simple present Amazons, present participle Amazoning, simple past and past participle Amazoned)

1. (transitive) To overwhelm or obliterate, in the context of an Internet start-up vastly outperforming its brick and mortar competition.
   • 1998 November 4, George Anders, “Discomfort Zone: Some Big Companies Long to Embrace Web But Settle for Flirtation — They Fear Online Marketing Could Cause Sales Staffs And Distributors to Rebel — A Risk of Getting ‘Amazoned’”, in The Wall Street Journal, page A1:

     Those who hesitate risk being "amazoned," forfeiting business to an Internet newcomer, in the way that bookstore chains have lost ground to Amazon.com Inc., the online bookseller.

   • 1999 Aug, Andrew Wileman, “Smart cookies: Get set to Amazon”, in Management Today, page 79:

     Venture capitalists' desks are thick with business plans promising ‘we're going to Amazon the insurance/travel/property business...’

   • 1999, Tim Smith, InternetWeek (786), "Getting Customers Totally Integrated – Cisco CIO Pete Solvik", 1999-10-25, p. 98 [1]

     Take the example of MetalSite.com, which is owned by steel companies. The steel companies aren't getting "Amazoned" by a start-up but, rather, they are doing the "Amazoning" within their own industry.

   • 1999, "Amazon Expands", InternetWeek (789), 1999-11-15, p. 11 [2]

     Amazon.com may soon be "amazoning" a few more industries.

   • 2000 November 20, Bob Tedeschi, “E-Commerce Report: Web and catalog businesses are crossing into storefront territory, creating parallel avenues of retailing”, in The New York Times, page C12:

     Gone are the days when they agonized about being "Amazoned", or blind-sided by a dot-com ....

   • 2001 July 4, Saul Hansell, “Web Sales of Airline Tickets Are Making Hefty Advances”, in The New York Times, page A1:

     In other industries, established companies are pulling people and money away from their Internet operations, as their fear of being "Amazoned" by start-ups has subsided.

   • 2001 November 18, Steve Lohr, “Gearhead Nation: A Time Out for Technophilia”, in The New York Times, page WK4:

     Meanwhile, traditional companies would be obliterated — "Amazoned" — by Internet upstarts.

   • 2002 June 30, Scott Harris, “Roots in Israel, Head in Silicon Valley”, in The New York Times, page B8:

     "Everybody was afraid of getting Amazoned," Mr. Landan said. "They didn't want to get left behind."

Finnish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Ἀμαζών (Amazṓn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑmɑtson/, [ˈɑ̝mɑ̝ts̠o̞n]
• IPA^(key): /ˈɑmɑzon/, [ˈɑ̝mɑ̝zo̞n]

Proper noun

Amazon

1. Amazon (river)

Declension

Inflection of Amazon (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		Amazon	—
genitive		Amazonin	—
partitive		Amazonia	—
illative		Amazoniin	—
		singular	plural
nominative		Amazon	—
accusative	nom.	Amazon	—
	gen.	Amazonin
genitive		Amazonin	—
partitive		Amazonia	—
inessive		Amazonissa	—
elative		Amazonista	—
illative		Amazoniin	—
adessive		Amazonilla	—
ablative		Amazonilta	—
allative		Amazonille	—
essive		Amazonina	—
translative		Amazoniksi	—
abessive		Amazonitta	—
instructive		—	—
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of Amazon (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Amazonini — accusative nom. Amazonini — gen. Amazonini genitive Amazonini — partitive Amazoniani — inessive Amazonissani — elative Amazonistani — illative Amazoniini — adessive Amazonillani — ablative Amazoniltani — allative Amazonilleni — essive Amazoninani — translative Amazonikseni — abessive Amazonittani — instructive — — comitative — — second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Amazonisi — accusative nom. Amazonisi — gen. Amazonisi genitive Amazonisi — partitive Amazoniasi — inessive Amazonissasi — elative Amazonistasi — illative Amazoniisi — adessive Amazonillasi — ablative Amazoniltasi — allative Amazonillesi — essive Amazoninasi — translative Amazoniksesi — abessive Amazonittasi — instructive — — comitative — — first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Amazonimme — accusative nom. Amazonimme — gen. Amazonimme genitive Amazonimme — partitive Amazoniamme — inessive Amazonissamme — elative Amazonistamme — illative Amazoniimme — adessive Amazonillamme — ablative Amazoniltamme — allative Amazonillemme — essive Amazoninamme — translative Amazoniksemme — abessive Amazonittamme — instructive — — comitative — — second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Amazoninne — accusative nom. Amazoninne — gen. Amazoninne genitive Amazoninne — partitive Amazonianne — inessive Amazonissanne — elative Amazonistanne — illative Amazoniinne — adessive Amazonillanne — ablative Amazoniltanne — allative Amazonillenne — essive Amazoninanne — translative Amazoniksenne — abessive Amazonittanne — instructive — — comitative — — third-person possessor singular plural nominative Amazoninsa — accusative nom. Amazoninsa — gen. Amazoninsa genitive Amazoninsa — partitive Amazoniaan Amazoniansa — inessive Amazonissaan Amazonissansa — elative Amazonistaan Amazonistansa — illative Amazoniinsa — adessive Amazonillaan Amazonillansa — ablative Amazoniltaan Amazoniltansa — allative Amazonilleen Amazonillensa — essive Amazoninaan Amazoninansa — translative Amazonikseen Amazoniksensa — abessive Amazonittaan Amazonittansa — instructive — — comitative — —

Derived terms

• Amazonia

 

compounds

• amazoninjokidelfiini
• amazoninmanaatti
• amazoninpuupiikkisika
• amazoninvalkodelfiini

 

Related terms

• amatsoni

Japanese

Romanization

Amazon

1. Rōmaji transcription of アマゾン

Latin

Etymology

from Ancient Greek Ἀμαζών (Amazṓn)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /aˈmaːz.zoːn/, [äˈmäːz̪d̪͡z̪oːn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈmad.d͡zon/, [äˈmäd̪ː͡z̪on]

Noun

Amāzōn f (genitive Amāzonis); third declension

1. an Amazon
2. a female warrior

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Amāzōn	Amāzones
Genitive	Amāzonis	Amāzonum
Dative	Amāzonī	Amāzonibus
Accusative	Amāzonem Amāzona	Amāzonas
Ablative	Amāzone	Amāzonibus
Vocative	Amāzōn	Amāzones

References

• “Amazon”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Amazon”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Amazon in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 109/3.