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chimera.

Alternative letter-case form of Chimera, a supposed monster in Lycia with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon or serpent, killed by the hero Bellerophon.

7 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/kaɪˈmɪɹə/General-American/kəˈmɪɹə/General-American/kaɪˈmerə/General-American/kaɪˈmɪəɹə/Received-Pronunciation
  1. Alternative letter-case form of Chimera, a supposed monster in Lycia with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon or serpent, killed by the hero Bellerophon.

    Greek · alt-of
    The game includes a bunch of chimeras, with the lion heads shooting fire and the snake tails whipping around trying to bite the player.
  2. Any fantastic creature combining parts from different animals.

  3. A foolish, incongruous, or vain thought or product of the imagination.

    figuratively
  4. Anything composed of very disparate parts.

    figuratively
    He built his car one piece at a time, producing a chimera with the head of a Volkswagen, the body of a Geely, and the tail of an aftermarket Porsche.
  5. A grotesque like a gargoyle, but without a spout for rainwater.

  6. An organism with genetically distinct cells originating from two or more zygotes.

    The DNA test returned a false negative because the killer was a chimera, having absorbed her twin in utero.
  7. Alternative form of 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.

    alt-of · alternative
  8. Synonym of bogeyman: any terrifying thing, especially as an unreal, imagined threat.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

Variant of Middle English chimere, chymere, & chymera under renewed Latin influence from the 16th century, from French chimère, from Latin Chimaera, from Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα (Khímaira, “fire-breathing mythological monster, fire-spewing Lycian or Cilician mountain”), from χίμαιρα (khímaira, “she-goat”, from χίμαρος (khímaros, “male goat”) + -α (-a)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰey-. In reference to the fish, directly from Latin Chimaera, used by Linnaeus. In reference to organisms with distinct areas of different genetic makeups, a calque of German Chimäre, used by Hans Winkler in 1907.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.