chameleon
/kəˈmi.li.ən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.10 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
noun
A person with inconstant behavior; one able to quickly adjust to new circumstances.
noun
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.
Example Sentences
- "Milk of chameleon was recommended as an erotic stimulant by Avicenna."
- "A contagious neuro-ego-disease. A virus sticking to liars. We're the self-centered fuel to boost the new strain of fire. Adapting, shifting, lacking opinion. Our numbers exceeding the billions. Everly walking among ourselves down the corridor of chameleons."
- "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."
- "The wall was covered with a chameleon paint."
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: camelion, cameleon, chamaeleon, χαμαιλέων, 𒌨𒈤𒊭𒆠