chamois

Etymology

Borrowed from French chamois, from Gaulish camox (5th c. AD, Polemius Silvius), probably from an extinct Alpine language (Raetic, Ancient Ligurian). Compare also Old High German gamiza (“chamois”) (whence modern German Gämse).

Pronunciation

• Of the color sense (both nounal and adjectival) and of the animal sense (in the singular):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃæmwɑː/
• Of the animal sense (in the plural):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃæmwɑːz/
• Of the color sense (both nounal and adjectival) and of the sense concerning leather (in the singular):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃæmi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  • Rhymes: -æmi
• Of the sense concerning leather (in the plural):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃæmiz/

Noun

Rupicapra rupicapra (1)

chamois (countable and uncountable, plural chamois)

1. A short-horned goat antelope native to mountainous terrain in southern Europe; Rupicapra rupicapra.
2. (usually as “chamois leather”) Soft pliable leather originally made from the skin of chamois (nowadays the hides of deer, sheep, and other species of goat are alternatively used).
3. The traditional colour of chamois leather.

   chamois colour:  

4. An absorbent cloth used for cleaning and polishing, formerly made of chamois leather.
   • 1926, Louise de Koven Bowen, Growing Up with a City, University of Illinois Press →ISBN, page 39

     I took them, breathed on them, polished them with a chamois and hung them on the chandelier.

   • 1984, Cruising World, page 158

     Mirrors can be cleaned with warm water and ammonia or vinegar and polished with a chamois.

   • 1989, Popular Mechanics, page 146

     Once your paint has been restored, drying your car with a chamois is just about all you have to do to restore the luster.

Adjective

chamois (not comparable)

1. Chamois-colored.

See also

• Appendix:Colors

Anagrams

• chamiso

Etymology

From Late Latin camōx, camōcis (5th c.), from Gaulish, probably from an extinct Alpine language (Raetic, Ligurian).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃa.mwa/

• Audio (France)

  (file)

Noun

chamois m (plural chamois)

1. chamois (animal)
2. chamois (leather)

Further reading

• “chamois” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• chômais