chimera

Meanings

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.
2. Any fantastic creature combining parts from different animals.
3. A foolish, incongruous, or vain thought or product of the imagination.
4. Anything composed of very disparate parts.
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.
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.
8. Synonym of bogeyman: any terrifying thing, especially as an unreal, imagined threat.

1. 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.
2. A fire-spewing mountain in Lycia or Cilicia, presumed to be an ancient name for the Yanartaş region of Turkey's Antalya Province.
3. Former name of Himara, a port town in southern Albania.
4. Former name of Ceraunian Mountains, the Albanian mountain range near Himara.

Etymology

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.