chimera English · revision 2471

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kaɪˈmɪəɹə/, /kɪˈmɪəɹə/ ''(UK)''; /kaɪˈmɪɹə/, /kəˈmɪɹə/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|chimere]],^(AHD)^(RHWU) [[bor|fro|chimere]] and [[la-med|chimera]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) [[der|la|chimaera]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995) [[der|grc|χίμαιρα|tr=khímaira|t=she-goat, chimera]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) The Greek word meant a year-old she-goat, a feminine of ''khímaros'' “he-goat”, and is related to ''kheîma'' “winter”, since animals were counted by the winters they had lived.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) English ''gimmer'' “ewe lamb” is a cognate.^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The fire-breathing monster of Greek mythology, with a lion's head, a goat's body and a serpent's tail (1382).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The name of the monster was used generally for any grotesque creature made of the parts of different animals, especially in art (1398).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) Figuratively it stood first for a frightening phantom (1514) and then for a wild, unreal fancy (1587), which the OED calls the ordinary modern use.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) In 1907 the German botanist Hans Winkler applied the word to organisms made of genetically different tissues, and English took up this biological sense by 1911.^(OED 1989)^(AHD)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1382 – the mythological monster.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1398 – a grotesque monster in painting or architecture.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1514 – a horrible phantasm.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1587 – a wild fancy, an unfounded idea.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1638 – the adjective ''chimerical''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1804 – a fish of the family Chimaeridae.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1911 – in biology, an organism with tissues of different genetic make-up.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(Greek mythology)'' A fire-breathing she-monster with a lion's head, goat's body and serpent's tail.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An imaginary monster made of incongruous parts.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An illusion or unrealizable dream.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(biology)'' An organism made of tissues of different genetic composition.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[chimeric]]

+ * [[chimerical]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Chimaera]]

+ * [[chimere]]

+ * [[gimmer]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}