chameleon

See also: chamaeleon, Chamaeleon, chameleón, chaméléon, and chamæleon

English

Cape dwarf chameleon

Alternative forms

• chamaeleon, chamæleon

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

• enPR: kəmē'lēən, kəmēl'yən; IPA^(key): /kəˈmi.li.ən/, /kəˈmil.jən/

• Audio (Northwestern US):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Note: this pronuncation may be nonstandard or incorrect: loud knock in the middle

Noun

chameleon (plural chameleons)

2. 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.
   • 1998, “Corridor of Chameleons”, performed by Meshuggah:

     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.

3. (figurative) A person with inconstant behavior; one able to quickly adjust to new circumstances.

   Synonym: Zelig

   • 2014 September 8, Michael White, “Roll up, roll up! The Amazing Salmond will show a Scotland you won't believe”, in The Guardian:

     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.

4. (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

• American chameleon
• chameleonic
• chameleonize
• chameleon-like
• chameleonlike
• chameleon mineral
• chameleon plant
• chameleon schema
• Fischer's chameleon
• Jackson's chameleon
• panther chameleon

 

Translations

reptile

• Afrikaans: verkleurmannetjie (af), trapsuutjie (af)
• Akkadian: 𒌨𒈤𒊭𒆠 (nēšu ša qaqqari)
• Albanian: kameleon (sq) m
• Amharic: እስስት (ʾəssət)
• Arabic: حِرْبَاء m (ḥirbāʔ)

  Hijazi Arabic: حرباية f (ḥirbāya)

  Moroccan Arabic: تاتة f (tāta), بوة f (buwwa)

• Aragonese: camalión m
• Aramaic: זָקִיתָא (zaqita)
• Armenian: քամելեոն (hy) (kʻameleon), գետնառյուծ (hy) (getnaṙyuc)
• Assamese: কোকলোঙা (kükolüṅa)
• Asturian: camaleón m
• Azerbaijani: buqələmun (az)
• Basque: kameleoi
• Belarusian: хамелео́н m (xamjeljeón)
• Bemba: lufwíáññembâ
• Bengali: বহুরূপী (bn) (bohurupi), গিরগিটি (bn) (girgiṭi)
• Breton: gwerlas m
• Bulgarian: хамелео́н (bg) m (hameleón)
• Burmese: ပုတ်သင်ညို (my) (putsangnyui)
• Catalan: camaleó (ca) m
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⴽⴰⵛⵛⴰ m (kacca), ⵜⴰⵜⴰ f (tata), ⵜⴰⵢⵢⵓ f (tayyu)
• Chamicuro: tsenemo
• Cherokee: ᎤᎵᏑᏫᏒ ᎠᏓᏁᏟᏴᏍᎩ ᏘᏲᎭᎵ (ulisuwisv adanetliyvsgi tiyohali), ᎧᎻᎵᎣᏂ (kamilioni)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 變色龍／变色龙 (zh) (biànsèlóng), 變色蜥蜴／变色蜥蜴 (zh) (biànsè xīyì), 避役 (zh) (bìyì)

• Czech: chameleon (cs) m, chameleón (cs) m
• Danish: kamæleon (da) c
• Dutch: kameleon (nl) m or n
• Esperanto: ĥameleono (eo)
• Estonian: kameeleon
• Faroese: kamelón f
• Finnish: kameleontti (fi)
• French: caméléon (fr) m
• Galician: camaleón (gl) m
• Georgian: ქამელეონი (kameleoni)
• German: Chamäleon (de) n
• Greek: χαμαιλέων (el) m (chamailéon)

  Ancient: χαμαιλέων m (khamailéōn)

• Gujarati: કાચંડો (kācaṇḍo)
• Hebrew: זִקִּית / זיקית (he) f (ziqit)
• Hindi: गिरगिट (hi) m (girgiṭ)
• Hungarian: kaméleon (hu)
• Icelandic: kameljón n, kamelljón n
• Ido: kameleono (io)
• Indonesian: bunglon (id)
• Inuktitut: ᑲᒦᓕᐊᓂ (kamiiliani)
• Italian: camaleonte (it) m
• Japanese: カメレオン (ja) (kamereon)
• Kannada: ಗೋಸುಂಬೆ (kn) (gōsumbe), ಓತೀಕಾಟ (kn) (ōtīkāṭa), ಊಸರವಳ್ಳಿ (kn) (ūsaravaḷḷi)
• Kazakh: хамелеон (xameleon)
• Kikuyu: kĩĩmbu class 7, mũriyũ class 3 (three-horned)
• Korean: 카멜레온 (ko) (kamelle'on)
• Kyrgyz: хамелеон (ky) (hameleon)
• Latvian: hameleons m
• Lithuanian: chameleonas m
• Macedonian: камелеон m (kameleon)
• Malagasy: tana (mg), tandrondro (mg), tarondro
• Malay: sesumpah, sumpah-sumpah, kameleon
• Malayalam: ഓന്ത് (ml) (ōntŭ)
• Maltese: kamaleont m
• Manx: kameelyan
• Maori: kamiriona
• Mon: ဟကုဲ (mnw)
• Mongolian: хамелеон (xameleon)
• Nahuatl: tepaxin
• Navajo: naʼashǫ́ʼii łahgo aníʼdoolníiłii
• Northern Sotho: leôbu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kameleon (no) m

  Nynorsk: kameleon m

• Occitan: camaleon (oc) m
• Odia: ଏଣ୍ଡୁଅ (eṇḍua)
• Old Awadhi: गिरगिट (giragiṭa)
• Pali: kakaṇṭaka m

  Mon: ကကဏ္ဍက m (kakaṇḍaka)

• Persian: آفتاب‌پرست (fa) (âftâb-parast), خربا (xorbâ)
• Polish: kameleon (pl) m
• Portuguese: camaleão (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਗਿਰਗਿਟ (girgiṭ)
• Romanian: cameleon (ro) m
• Russian: хамелео́н (ru) m (xameleón)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: камелеон m

  Roman: kameleon (sh) m

• Shona: rwavhi
• Slovak: chameleón (sk) m
• Slovene: kameleon (sl) m
• Spanish: camaleón (es) m
• Sundanese: londok
• Swahili: kinyonga (sw), lumbwi, kigeugeu (sw)
• Swazi: lú-nwabú
• Swedish: kameleont (sv) c
• Tagalog: hunyango (tl)
• Tajik: офтобгардон (oftobgardon)
• Tamil: பச்சோந்தி (ta) (paccōnti)
• Tashelhit: ⴽⴰⵛⵛⴰ m (kašša), ⵜⴰⵛⴰⵛⵜⵓⵅⵜ f (tašaštuxt) (Imizmiz region)
• Tatar: хамелеон (xameleon)
• Telugu: తొండ (te) (toṇḍa), ఊసరవెల్లి (te) (ūsaravelli)
• Ternate: bakebake
• Thai: คาเมเลี่ยน (kaa-mee-lîian)
• Turkish: bukalemun (tr)
• Ukrainian: хамелео́н m (xameleón)
• Uzbek: xameleon (uz), buqalamun (uz)
• Vietnamese: tắc kè hoa, tắc kè bông
• Walloon: cameleyon (wa) m
• Wolof: kàkkatar

person with inconstant behavior

• Afrikaans: verkleurmannetjie (af)
• Catalan: camaleó (ca) m
• Dutch: kameleon (nl) m or n
• Greek: χαμαιλέων (el) m (chamailéon)
• Italian: camaleonte (it) m
• Japanese: 気分屋 (ja) (きぶんや, kibun'ya)
• Malayalam: ഓന്ത് (ml) (ōntŭ)
• Persian: بوقلمون (fa) (buqalmun)
• Portuguese: camaleão (pt) m
• Romanian: cameleon (ro) m
• Spanish: camaleón (es) m
• Tatar: монафикъ (monafiq), икейөзле (ikeyözle), хамелеон (xameleon)

Adjective

chameleon (not comparable)

1. Describing something that changes color.

   The wall was covered with a chameleon paint.

Further reading

• “chameleon”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “chameleon”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Critical and Philological Notes: Tablet XI, Note 314 in Andrew R. George (2003) The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts, Volume II, Oxford University Press, pages 896-897
• nēšu(m) in Black, Jeremy, George, Andrew, Postgate, Nicholas (2000) A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, 2nd corrected edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, page 251

Czech

Alternative forms

• chameleón

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈxamɛlɛon]
• IPA^(key): [ˈxamɛlɛoːn]

Noun

chameleon m anim

1. chameleon

Declension

Declension of chameleon (hard masculine animate)

	singular	plural
nominative	chameleon	chameleoni, chameleonové
genitive	chameleona	chameleonů
dative	chameleonovi, chameleonu	chameleonům
accusative	chameleona	chameleony
vocative	chameleone	chameleoni, chameleonové
locative	chameleonovi, chameleonu	chameleonech
instrumental	chameleonem	chameleony