Chimera

See also: chimera, chimæra, chimaera, chiméra, Chimaera, and Chiméra

English

Chimera on a red-figure Apulian plate, c. 350–340 B.C.E. (Musée du Louvre)

"Chimera of Arezzo": an Etruscan bronze

Alternative forms

• Chimaera, chimera, chimaera

Etymology

As the mythological beast, a variant case form of chimera, q.v. As an ancient mountain, directly from Latin mons Chimaera (“Mount Chimera”), from Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα (Khímaira), attested in Strabo.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kaɪˈmɪɹə/, /kəˈmɪɹə/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kʌɪˈmɪəɹə/, /kɪˈmɪəɹə/

Proper noun

Chimera

1. (Greek mythology) A supposed fire-breathing monster in Lycia with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon or snake, killed by the hero Bellerophon.
   • 1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., Vol. II, p. 184:

     CHIMERA, a fabulous monſter...

2. (geography, Ancient Greece) A fire-spewing mountain in Lycia or Cilicia, presumed to be an ancient name for the Yanartaş region of Turkey's Antalya Province.
   • 1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., Vol. II, p. 184:

     CHIMERA... The foundation of the fable was, that in Lycia there was a burning mountain, or vulcano, of this name; that the top of this mountain was ſeldom without lions, nor the middle, which had very good graſs, without goats; that ſerpents bred at the bottom, which was marſhy; and that Bellerophon rendered the mountain habitable.

3. (historical) Former name of Himara, a port town in southern Albania.
   • 1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., Vol. II, p. 184:

     CHIMÆRA, in geography, a port town of Turky in Europe, ſituated at the entrance of the gulph of Venice, in the province of Epirus, about thirty-two miles north of the city Corfu, near which are the mountains of Chimæra, which divide Epirus from Theſſaly...

4. (historical) Former name of Ceraunian Mountains, the Albanian mountain range near Himara.

Coordinate terms

• (Greek myth): Cerberus, Hydra, Typhon, Echidna

Translations

Greek myth: monster killed by Bellerophon

• Armenian: քիմեր (hy) (kʻimer)
• Azerbaijani: Ximera
• Breton: Kimera
• Bulgarian: химера (bg) f (himera)
• Catalan: quimera (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 喀邁拉 / 喀迈拉 (kāmàilā)

• Czech: Chiméra f
• Danish: Kimære c, kimære c
• Esperanto: ĥimero
• Estonian: Kimäär, kimäär
• Finnish: Khimaira (fi), khimaira (fi)
• French: Chimère (fr) f, chimère (fr) f
• Galician: Quimera f
• German: Chimäre (de) f
• Greek: Χίμαιρα (el) f (Chímaira), χίμαιρα (el) f (chímaira)

  Ancient: Χίμαιρα f (Khímaira), χίμαιρα f (khímaira)

• Greenlandic: Kimære
• Hebrew: כימרה
• Hungarian: Kiméra
• Ido: kimero (io)
• Indonesian: Khimaira
• Inuktitut: ᕿᒦᕋ (qimiira)
• Italian: chimera (it) f
• Japanese: キメラ (ja) (kimera), キマイラ (ja) (kimaira)
• Korean: 키메라 (kimera), 키마이라 (kimaira)
• Latin: Chimaera f
• Macedonian: химера f (himera)
• Norwegian: Kimære, Khimaira
• Persian: شیمر, کایْمِرا
• Polish: Chimera (pl) f
• Portuguese: Quimera f, quimera (pt) f
• Russian: химе́ра (ru) f (ximéra)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Химера f, химера f

  Roman: Himera f, himera (sh) f

• Spanish: quimera (es) f
• Swedish: chimaira c, chimära c, kimera c, Chimaira
• Tagalog: kimera
• Thai: คิเมียรา
• Turkish: Kimera

References

• “chimera | chimaera, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.

Anagrams

• haremic

Polish

Chimera

Alternative forms

• Chimajra

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin Chimaera, from Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα (Khímaira).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xiˈmɛ.ra/
• Rhymes: -ɛra
• Syllabification: Chi‧me‧ra
• Homophone: chimera

Proper noun

Chimera f

1. (Greek mythology) Chimera (monster killed by Bellerophon)

Declension

Declension of Chimera

	singular
nominative	Chimera
genitive	Chimery
dative	Chimerze
accusative	Chimerę
instrumental	Chimerą
locative	Chimerze
vocative	Chimero

Related terms

adjectives

• chimerny
• chimeryczny

 

adverbs

• chimerycznie

 

nouns

• chimera
• chimeryczka
• chimeryczność
• chimeryk
• chimeryzm

 

verbs

• chimerować impf
• schimerować pf

 

Further reading

• Chimera in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• Chimera in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Chimera in PWN's encyclopedia