chimera
/kaɪˈmɪɹə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.85 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Alternative letter-case form of Chimera, a supposed monster in Lycia with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon or serpent, killed by the hero Bellerophon.
noun
A foolish, incongruous, or vain thought or product of the imagination.
noun
An organism with genetically distinct cells originating from two or more zygotes.
noun
Alternative form of chimaera, a cartilaginous marine fish in the subclass Holocephali and especially the order Chimaeriformes, with a blunt snout, long tail, and a spine before the first dorsal fin.
noun
Synonym of bogeyman: any terrifying thing, especially as an unreal, imagined threat.
Example Sentences
- "...beestis clepid chymeres, that han a part of ech beest, and suche ben not, no but oonly in opynyoun..."
- "Bellerophon was commanded to destroy this monster, and with the assistance of the flying horse, Pegasus, he slew the chimera."
- "The game includes a bunch of chimeras, with the lion heads shooting fire and the snake tails whipping around trying to bite the player."
- "A voice had called him forth to think in solitude—a voice he durst not resist, the awful one of the future. It fell on John's heart like the mutter of approaching desolation. He heard it coming on, as the spell-bound in a hideous dream await, wordless and shivering, the progress of some chimera monster, whose grasp is to crush and destroy."
- "The Magophonia was essentially the eruption of a long-simmering animosity between the pārsās (who revered Ahura Mazdā) and the Median magi (who believed in the supremacy of Mithra and Apam Napāt). A vivid expression of this animosity is displayed on the door jambs of Persepolis, where Darius is killing with a dagger a chimera monster with a scorpion tail."
- "In the middle of theſe Cogitations, Apprehenſions, and Reflections, it came into my Thought one day, that all this might be a mere Chimera of my own; and that this Foot might be the Print of my own Foot, when I came on Shore from my Boat: This chear'd me up a little too, and I began to perſuade myſelf it was all a Deluſion; that it was nothing elſe but my own Foot; and why might I not come that way from the Boat, as well as I was going that way to the Boat: […]"
Etymology
Variant of Middle English chimere, chymere, & chymera under renewed Latin influence from the 16th century, from French chimère, from Latin Chimaera, from Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα (Khímaira, “fire-breathing mythological monster, fire-spewing Lycian or Cilician mountain”), from χίμαιρα (khímaira, “she-goat”, from χίμαρος (khímaros, “male goat”) + -α (-a)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰey-. In reference to the fish, directly from Latin Chimaera, used by Linnaeus. In reference to organisms with distinct areas of different genetic makeups, a calque of German Chimäre, used by Hans Winkler in 1907.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kaɪˈmɪɹə/
- British English: /kaɪˈmɪəɹə/
Inflected Forms
chimeras (plural)
chimaera (alternative, archaic)
chimæra (alternative, archaic)
chimere (alternative, obsolete)
chymera (alternative, obsolete)
chemera (alternative, obsolete)
chymæra (alternative, obsolete)
Chimaera (alternative)
Derived Forms
Phrases
the name of one of the ships of Æneas
tetragametic chimera