English Explanatory Dictionary

camera

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A device for taking still or moving pictures or photographs.
  2. The viewpoint in a three-dimensional game or simulation.
  3. A vaulted room.
  4. A judge's private chamber, where cases may be heard in camera.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈkæm.ə.ɹə/ /ˈkæm.ɹə/ /ˈkæm.ɚ.ə/ en-us-camera.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-camera.wav

Word forms

camera cameras cameræ camerae

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin camera (“chamber or bedchamber”), from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “anything with an arched cover, a covered carriage or boat, a vaulted chamber, a vault”), of Old Iranian origin, from Proto-Iranian *kamarā- (“something curved”), from *kamárati, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kmárati, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- (“to bend, curve”). Doublet of chamber. (device): An ellipsis of camera obscura, from New Latin camera obscura (“dark chamber”), because the first cameras used a pinhole and a dark room.

Related words

ante-camera anti-camera cameral camerate

Derived words

aerial camera aerocamera Anger camera backup camera Baker-Nunn camera body camera body-worn camera box camera camback camcorder camera angle camera clara camera club camera flash camera fright camera left cameraless cameralike camera lucida cameraman camera move camera obscura cameraperson camera phone cameraphone camera-ready camera ready camera rehearsal camera right camera roll camera shake camera shot camera-shy cameratic camera trap camerawoman camera worker camera-worker camerist camfecting candid camera CCTV camera ciné camera cine camera cold camera compact camera dashcam digital camera digital single-lens reflex camera digital still camera document camera fan camera fan camera photography game camera gamma camera gastrocamera guy with camera holocamera in camera instant camera
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