chameleon

Meaning

Noun

1. 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.
2. (figuratively) A person with inconstant behavior; one able to quickly adjust to new circumstances.
3. 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.

Adj

That changes or modifies its color.

Synonyms

lizard

🦎

chamaeleon

bloodsucker

chameleon plant

tree lizard

cameleon

Translations

caméléon

camaleón

camaleonte

kameleon

Chamäleon

camaleão

camaleó

bukalemun

χαμαιλέοντας

حرباء

χαμαιλέων

margîse

chameleon

حرباؤ

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kəˈmi.li.ən/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: camelion

In summary

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 by Amanda Weltman in 2003 in a paper in Physical Review Letters.