chameleon

See also: chamaeleon, Chamaeleon, chameleón, chaméléon, and chamæleon

English

Cape Dwarf Chameleon

Alternative forms

• chamaeleon, chamæleon

Etymology

From Middle English camelion, from Old French cameleon, from Latin chamaeleon, from Ancient Greek χαμαιλέων (khamailéōn), from χαμαί (khamaí, “on the earth, on the ground”) + λέων (léōn, “lion”); ultimately a calque from Akkadian 𒌨𒈤𒊭𒆠 (nēšu ša qaqqari, “chameleon, reptile”, literally “lion of the ground", "predator that crawls upon the ground”). The spelling was re-latinized in the early 18th century. The physics sense was coined by Justin Khoury and Amanda Weltman in 2003 in a paper in Physical Review Letters.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kəmē'lēən, IPA^(key): /kəˈmiːl.ɪən/; enPR: kəmēl'yən, IPA^(key): /kəˈmiːl.jən/

Noun

chameleon (plural chameleons)

1. A small to mid-size reptile, of the family Chamaeleonidae, and one of the best known lizard families able to change color and project its long tongue.
2. A person with inconstant behavior; one able to quickly adjust to new circumstances.
   • 2014, Michael White, "Roll up, roll up! The Amazing Salmond will show a Scotland you won't believe", The Guardian, 8 September 2014:

     He is a political chameleon, as charming to business leaders he met privately in Aberdeen on Friday night as he has been inspiring to distressed and desperate Labour defectors in Glasgow and beyond.

3. (physics) A hypothetical scalar particle with a non-linear self-interaction, giving it an effective mass that depends on its environment: the presence of other fields.

Holonyms

• (Individual Chamaeleonidae) Starship

Derived terms

• chameleonize

Translations

reptile

• Afrikaans: verkleurmannetjie (af), trapsuutjie (af)
• Albanian: kameleon (sq) m
• Amharic: እስስት (ʾəssət)
• Arabic: حِرْبَاء‎ m (ḥirbāʾ)

  Hijazi Arabic: حرباية‎ f (ḥirbāya)

  Moroccan Arabic: تاتا‎ f (tāta), بوة‎ f (buwwa)

• Aragonese: camalión m
• Aramaic: זָקִיתָא‎ (zaqita)
• Armenian: քամելեոն (hy) (kʿameleon), գետնառյուծ (hy) (getnaṙyuc)
• Assamese: কোকলোঙা (kükolüṅa)
• Asturian: camaleón m
• Awadhi: गिरगिट (girgiṭ)
• Azerbaijani: buqələmun (az)
• Basque: kameleoi
• Belarusian: хамелео́н m (xamjeljeón)
• Bemba: lufwíáññembâ
• Bengali: বহুরূপী (bôhurupi), গিরগিটি (girôgiṭi)
• Breton: gwerlas m
• Bulgarian: хамелео́н (bg) m (hameleón)
• Burmese: ပုတ်သင်ညို (my) (putsangnyui)
• Catalan: camaleó m
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⴽⴰⵛⵛⴰ m (kašša), ⵜⴰⵜⴰ f (tata), ⵜⴰⵢⵢⵓ f (tayyu)
• Chamicuro: tsenemo
• Cherokee: ᎤᎵᏑᏫᏒ ᎠᏓᏁᏟᏴᏍᎩ ᏘᏲᎭᎵ (ulisuwisv adanetliyvsgi tiyohali), ᎧᎻᎵᎣᏂ (kamilioni)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 變色龍 (zh), 变色龙 (zh) (biànsèlóng), 變色蜥蜴 (zh), 变色蜥蜴 (zh) (biànsè xīyì), 避役 (zh) (bìyì)

• Czech: chameleon (cs) m, chameleón (cs) m
• Danish: kamæleon (da) c
• Dutch: kameleon (nl) m or n
• Esperanto: ĥameleono
• Estonian: kameeleon
• Faroese: kamelón f
• Finnish: kameleontti (fi)
• French: caméléon (fr) m
• Galician: camaleón (gl) m
• Georgian: ქამელეონი (kameleoni)
• German: Chamäleon (de) n
• Greek: χαμαιλέων (el) m (chamailéon)

  Ancient: χαμαιλέων m (khamailéōn)

• Gujarati: કાચંડો (kācaṇḍo)
• Hebrew: זִקִּית / זיקית‎ (he) f (ziqit)
• Hindi: गिरगिट (hi) m (girgiṭ)
• Hungarian: kaméleon (hu)
• Icelandic: kameljón n, kamelljón n
• Ido: kameleono (io)
• Indonesian: bunglon (id)
• Italian: camaleonte (it) m
• Japanese: カメレオン (ja) (kamereon)
• Kannada: ಗೋಸುಂಬೆ (kn) (gōsumbe), ಓತೀಕಾಟ (kn) (ōtīkāṭa), ಊಸರವಳ್ಳಿ (kn) (ūsaravaḷḷi)
• Kazakh: хамелеон (xameleon)

• Kikuyu: kĩĩmbu 7, mũriyũ 3 (three-horned)
• Korean: 카멜레온 (ko) (kamelle'on)
• Kyrgyz: хамелеон (ky) (hameleon)
• Latvian: hameleons m
• Lithuanian: chameleonas m
• Macedonian: камелеон m (kameleon)
• Malagasy: tana (mg), tandrondro, tarondro
• Malay: sesumpah, sumpah-sumpah, kameleon
• Malayalam: ഓന്ത് (ml) (ōntŭ)
• Maltese: kamaleont m
• Manx: kameelyan
• Maori: kamiriona
• Mon:ဟကုဲ (mnw)
• Mongolian: хамелеон (khameleon)
• Nahuatl: tepaxin
• Navajo: naʼashǫ́ʼii łahgo aníʼdoolníiłii
• Northern Sotho: leôbu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kameleon (no) m

  Nynorsk: kameleon m

• Occitan: camaleon m
• Oriya: ଏଣ୍ଡୁଅ (eṇḍuô)
• Pali: kakaṇṭaka m

  Mon: ကကဏ္ဍက m (kakaṇḍaka)

• Persian: آفتاب‌پرست‎ (fa) (âftâb-parast), خربا‎ (xorbā)
• Polish: kameleon (pl) m
• Portuguese: camaleão (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਗਿਰਗਿਟ (girgiṭ)
• Romanian: cameleon (ro) m
• Russian: хамелео́н (ru) m (xameleón)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: камелеон m

  Roman: kameleon (sh) m

• Shona: rwavhi
• Slovak: chameleón (sk) m
• Slovene: kameleon (sl) m
• Spanish: camaleón (es) m
• Sundanese: londok
• Swahili: kinyonga (sw), lumbwi, kigeugeu
• Swazi: lú-nwabú
• Swedish: kameleont (sv) c
• Tagalog: hunyango (tl)
• Tajik: офтобгардон (oftobgardon)
• Tamil: பச்சோந்தி (ta) (paccōnti)
• Tashelhit: ⴽⴰⵛⵛⴰ m (kašša), ⵜⴰⵛⴰⵛⵜⵓⵅⵜ f (tašaštuxt) (Imizmiz region)
• Telugu: తొండ (te) (toṇḍa), ఊసరవెల్లి (te) (ūsaravelli)
• Ternate: bakebake
• Thai: คาเมเลี่ยน (kaa-mee-lîian)
• Turkish: bukalemun (tr)
• Ukrainian: хамелео́н m (xameleón)
• Uzbek: xameleon (uz), buqalamun (uz)
• Vietnamese: tắc kè hoa
• Walloon: cameleyon (wa) m
• Wolof: kàkkatar

person with inconstant behavior

• Afrikaans: verkleurmannetjie (af)
• Catalan: camaleó m
• Dutch: kameleon (nl) m or n
• Greek: χαμαιλέων (el) m (chamailéon)
• Italian: camaleonte (it) m

• Japanese: 気分屋 (きぶんや, kibun'ya)
• Malayalam: ഓന്ത് (ml) (ōntŭ)
• Persian: بوقلمون‎ (fa) (būγalmūn)
• Portuguese: camaleão (pt) m
• Romanian: cameleon (ro) m
• Spanish: camaleón (es) m

Adjective

chameleon (not comparable)

1. Describing something that changes color.

   The wall was covered with a chameleon paint.

Further reading

• “chameleon” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “chameleon” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Critical and Philological Notes: Tablet XI, Note 314 in Andrew R. George (2003) The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts, Volume II, Oxford University Press, pages 896-897
• nēšu(m) in Black, Jeremy; George, Andrew; Postgate, Nicholas (1976) A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, 2nd corrected edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, page 251

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Czech

Noun

chameleon m

1. chameleon