chameleon
cha·me·leon
noun
a changeable or inconstant person
a faint constellation in the polar region of the southern hemisphere near Apus and Mensa
lizard of Africa and Madagascar able to change skin color and having a projectile tongue
Origin
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.
Phrases
- American chameleon
- chameleon mineral
- chameleon plant
- chameleon schema
- chameleon vine
- Elandsberg dwarf chameleon
- Fischer's chameleon
- Jackson's chameleon
Related words
Word family
Broader terms
Narrower terms
Parts
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.