chamois

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French chamois, from Late Latin camox, from Gaulish camox (5th c. AD, Polemius Silvius), probably from an extinct Alpine language (Raetic, Ancient Ligurian), possibly Proto-Indo-European *kem (“without horns”). Compare also Old High German gamiza (“chamois”) (whence modern German Gämse).

Pronunciation

• Of the color sense (both nominal and adjectival) and of the animal sense (in the singular):
  • IPA^(key): /ˈʃæmwɑː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Of the animal sense (in the plural):
  • IPA^(key): /ˈʃæmwɑːz/
• Of the color sense (both nominal and adjectival) and of the sense concerning leather (in the singular):
  • IPA^(key): /ˈʃæmi/
  • Rhymes: -æmi
• Of the sense concerning leather (in the plural):
  • IPA^(key): /ˈʃæmiz/

Noun

Rupicapra rupicapra (1)

chamois (countable and uncountable, plural chamoises or chamois)

1. A short-horned goat antelope native to mountainous terrain in southern Europe; .
   • 1831 October 31, Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, chapter I, in Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (Standard Novels; IX), 3rd edition, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 22:

     When my father returned from Milan, he found playing with me in the hall of our villa a child fairer than pictured cherub – a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hills.

2. Usually as chamois leather: soft pliable leather originally made from the skin of chamois (nowadays the hides of deer, sheep, and other species of goat are alternatively used).
3. The traditional colour of chamois leather.

   chamois:  

4. An absorbent cloth used for cleaning and polishing, formerly made of chamois leather.
   • 1926, Louise de Koven Bowen, Growing Up with a City, University of Illinois Press →ISBN, page 39

     I took them, breathed on them, polished them with a chamois and hung them on the chandelier.

   • 1984, Cruising World, page 158

     Mirrors can be cleaned with warm water and ammonia or vinegar and polished with a chamois.

   • 1989, Popular Mechanics, page 146

     Once your paint has been restored, drying your car with a chamois is just about all you have to do to restore the luster.

Derived terms

• cattle chamois
• chammy, shammy
• chamois leather

Translations

A goat-like antelope

• Albanian: dhia e egër
• Armenian: այծյամ (hy) (aycyam)
• Azerbaijani: qarapaça
• Basque: sarrio
• Belarusian: са́рна f (sárna)
• Breton: chamoez
• Bulgarian: дива коза f (diva koza)
• Catalan: isard
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 臆羚 (yìlíng), 岩羚羊 (yánlíngyáng)

• Czech: kamzík (cs) m
• Danish: gemse
• Dutch: gems (nl) f
• Esperanto: ĉamo
• Estonian: mägikits
• Faroese: gemsa f
• Finnish: gemssi (fi)
• French: chamois (fr) m, isard (fr) m
• Friulian: cjamoç
• Galician: rebezo (gl), gamuza f
• German: Gams (de) f, Gemse (de) f, Gämse (de) f

  Alemannic German: Gemschi n

• Greek: αγριόγιδο (el) n (agriógido), αγριοκάτσικο (el) n (agriokátsiko), αίγαγρος (el) m (aígagros)
• Hungarian: zerge (hu)
• Icelandic: gemsa f
• Ido: chamo (io)
• Irish: seamaí m
• Italian: camoscio (it) m, rupicapra f
• Japanese: シャモア (ja) (shamoa), カモシカ (ja) (kamojika)
• Ladin: ciamorc
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lak: гьинта (hinta)
• Latin: Rupicapra rupicapra
• Lithuanian: gemzė
• Lower Sorbian: źiwa koza
• Macedonian: дивокоза f (divokoza)
• Maltese: kamoxx
• Maori: temera
• Mingrelian: ერსქემი (erskemi)
• Northern Sami: álpagáica
• Norwegian: gemse
• Occitan: camóç, isard
• Polish: kozica (pl) f
• Portuguese: camurça (pt)
• Romanian: șamoa (ro) m, capră-neagră (ro) f, capră-de-munte (ro) f
• Romansch: chamutsch m (Rumantsch Grischun), camutsch m (Sursilvan), tgamutsch m (Sutsilvan, Surmiran), chamuotsch m (Puter, Vallader)
• Russian: се́рна (ru) f (sérna), чёрный козёл m (čórnyj kozjól)
• Sardinian: camussa, crabu aresti, camùsciu
• Scottish Gaelic: somar
• Serbo-Croatian: дивокоза f, divokoza (sh) f
• Slovak: kamzík horský m, kamzík m
• Slovene: gams (sl) m
• Spanish: gamuza (es) f, rebeco (es) m, sarrio (es) m
• Swedish: gems (sv) c, stenget c
• Tagalog: gamusa
• Turkish: dağ keçisi (tr)
• Ukrainian: се́рна f (sérna), са́рна f (sárna)
• Upper Sorbian: kamzyk, gemsa, skalna koza
• Welsh: gafrewig
• West Frisian: gems

cloth

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沙穆瓦 (shāmùwǎ), 麂皮 (zh) (jǐpí), 麂皮革 (jǐpígé), 油鞣革 (zh) (yóuróugé)

• Finnish: säämiskä (fi)
• French: chamois (fr) m
• German: Sämischleder (de) n
• Ido: chamopelo (io)
• Irish: seamaí m
• Italian: camoscio (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: シャモア (ja) (shamoa)
• Persian: کیمخت (fa) (kimoxt)
• Polish: giemza (pl) f
• Russian: за́мша (ru) f (zámša)
• Spanish: gamuza (es) f
• Tagalog: gamusa
• Turkish: güderi (tr)

colour

• Ido: chamea (io)
• Italian: camoscio (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: ^{(please verify)} кори́чнево-жёлтый (ru) m (koríčnevo-žóltyj) (цвет)

Adjective

chamois (not comparable)

1. Chamois-colored.

Verb

1. (transitive) To clean with a chamois leather cloth.

   Synonym: shammy

See also

• Appendix:Colors

References

• Template:R:ine:Roberts

Anagrams

• chamiso

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French

Etymology

From Middle French chamois, from Late Latin camox, from Gaulish camox (5th c. AD, Polemius Silvius), probably from an extinct Alpine language (Raetic, Ancient Ligurian), possibly Proto-Indo-European *kem (“without horns”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃa.mwa/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

Noun

chamois m (plural chamois)

1. chamois (animal)
2. chamois (leather)

Derived terms

• chamoiserie

Further reading

• “chamois”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• chômais