chimera

See also Chimera

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• chimaera
• chimæra

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χίμαιρα (khímaira). The fabulous monster in Lycea (with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail), supposedly personification of snow or winter, originally "year-old she-goat", from χεῖμα (kheima, “winter season”). Meaning "wild fantasy" first recorded 1587.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /kaɪˈmɪɹə/

Noun

chimera (plural chimeras)

1. (mythology) Chimera, or any fabulous creature with parts from different animals.
2. A vain, foolish, or incongruous fancy, or creature of the imagination; as, the chimera of an author.
3. (genetics) An organism with genetically distinct cells originating from two zygotes.
4. (architecture) A gargoyle (fictional winged creature)
5. (usually chimaera) A cartilaginous marine fish in the subclass Holocephali and especially the order Chimaeriformes, with a blunt snout, long tail, and a spine before the first dorsal fin.

Synonyms

• (fish): ghost shark, ratfish, rabbitfish

Derived terms

• chimeral
• chimeric
• chimerism
• tetragametic chimera
• Chimera: the name of one of the ships of Æneas

Translations

mythical monster

Bosnian: himera (bs) f. Bulgarian: химера (bg) f. Catalan: quimera (ca) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 喀邁拉 (zh), 喀迈拉 (zh) (kāmàilā) Croatian: himera (hr) f. Czech: Chiméra (cs) Danish: kimære (da) c. Esperanto: ĥimero (eo) Estonian: kimäär (et) Finnish: khimaira (fi) French: chimère (fr) f. German: Chimäre (de) f.

Greek: χίμαιρα (el) (chímaira) f. Hungarian: Kiméra (hu) Italian: chimera (it) f. Japanese: キメラ (ja) (kimera), キマイラ (ja) (kimaira) Korean: 키메라 (ko) (kimera), 키마이라 (ko) (kimaira) Macedonian: химера (mk) f. Russian: химера (ru) (ximéra) f. Serbian: Cyrillic: химера (sr) f. Roman: himera (sr) f. Spanish: quimera (es) f. Swedish: chimaira (sv) c., chimära (sv) c., kimera (sv) c.

gargoyle (fictional winged creature)

Russian: химера (ru) (ximéra) f.

organism with cells from two zygotes

Catalan: quimera (ca) f. Czech: chiméra (cs) French: chimère (fr) f. German: Chimäre (de) f.

Japanese: キメラ (ja) (kimera) Russian: химера (ru) (ximéra) f. Swedish: chimär (sv) c.

creature of the imagination

Armenian: ցնորք (hy) (c’nork’), պատրանք (hy) (patrank’) Catalan: quimera (ca) f. Czech: chiméra (cs) Esperanto: ĥimero (eo) French: chimère (fr) f.

German: Schimäre (de) f. Hungarian: kiméra (hu) Russian: химера (ru) (ximéra) f. Swedish: chimär (sv) c.

marine fish of the order Chimaeriformes

Finnish: sillikuningaskala (fi)

See also

• Chimaera
• Appendix:Glossary of architecture

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Italian

Noun

chimera f. (plural chimere)

1. chimera