Chimera

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /kaɪˈmɪəɹə/

Alternative forms

• chimaera
• chimæra

Origin

From Old French chimere, from Latin chimaera, from Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα. The fabulous monster in Lycia (with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail), supposedly personification of snow or winter, originally "year-old she-goat", from χεῖμα (kheima, "winter season"). Meaning "wild fantasy" first recorded 1587.

Full definition of chimera

Noun

1. (mythology) Chimera, or any fantastic creature with parts from different animals
2. A vain, foolish, or incongruous fancy, or creature of the imagination; as, the chimera of an author
3. (genetics) An organism with genetically distinct cells originating from two zygotes
4. (architecture) A grotesque, like a gargoyle but without a spout for rainwater
5. (usually chimaera) A cartilaginous marine fish in the subclass Holocephali and especially the order Chimaeriformes, with a blunt snout, long tail, and a spine before the first dorsal fin

Synonyms

• (fish) ghost shark, ratfish, rabbitfish

Derived terms

• chimeral
• chimeric
• chimerism
• tetragametic chimera
• Chimera: the name of one of the ships of Æneas