chameleon

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Archived revision by Fenakhay (talk | contribs) as of 08:36, 27 December 2019.
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: chamaeleon, Chamaeleon, chameleón, chaméléon, and chamæleon

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Cape Dwarf Chameleon

Alternative forms

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

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.
  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.

Derived terms

Translations

Holonyms

  • (Individual Chamaeleonidae) Starship

Adjective

chameleon (not comparable)

  1. Describing something that changes color.
    The wall was covered with a chameleon paint.

References

  1. ^ “chameleon”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  2. ^ “chameleon”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  3. ^ “chameleon” (US) / “chameleon” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.

Further reading

Czech

Noun

Lua error in Module:cs-headword at line 144: Unrecognized gender: 'm'

  1. chameleon
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=chameleon&oldid=58239977"