camera

Meaning

1. A device for taking still or moving pictures or photographs.
2. The viewpoint in a three-dimensional game or simulation.
3. A vaulted room.
4. A judge's private chamber, where cases may be heard in camera.

Hyphenated as

ca‧me‧ra

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkæməɹə/

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin camera (“chamber or bedchamber”), from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “anything with an arched cover, a covered carriage or boat, a vaulted chamber, a vault”), of Old Iranian origin, from Proto-Iranian *kamarā- (“something curved”), from *kamárati, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kmárati, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- (“to bend, curve”). Doublet of chamber.(device): A clipping of camera obscura, from New Latin camera obscura (“dark chamber”), because the first cameras used a pinhole and a dark room.