camel

See also: cámel, camèl, and Camel

English

A Bactrian camel, Camelus bactrianus

A convoy of camels in the Jordan Rift Valley

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkæməl/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æməl
• Hyphenation: ca‧mel

Etymology 1

From Middle English camel, through Old English camel and Old Northern French camel (Old French chamel, modern French chameau), from Latin camēlus, from Ancient Greek κάμηλος (kámēlos), from a Semitic source, ultimately from Proto-Semitic *gamal-; compare Arabic جَمَل (jamal), Hebrew גמל (gamál), Aramaic ܓܡܠܐ (gamlā), Coptic ϭⲁⲙⲟⲩⲗ (camoul).

Noun

camel (plural camels)

1. A beast of burden, much used in desert areas, of the genus Camelus.

   Synonym: (India (Anglo-Indian), Australia, colloquial) oont

   Hypernym: camelid

   Hyponyms: Bactrian camel, dromedary

   Coordinate terms: llama, guanaco, alpaca, vicuna, vicuña; more at Category:en:Camelids

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

     Returne our Mules and emptie Camels backe,
     That we may trauell into Siria, […]

   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Achilles! a drayman, a porter, a very camel.

   • 1907, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter IV, in The Explorer‎^[1]:

     As sometimes happens in countries of small civilisation, a leader arose from among the Arabs. None knew from where he sprang, and it was said that he had been a camel driver.

2. A light brownish color, like that of a camel (also called camel brown).

   camel:  

3. Loaded vessels lashed tightly, one on each side of another vessel, and then emptied to reduce the draught of the ship in the middle.
4. (ethnic slur, offensive, derogatory, slang) A person of Middle Eastern origin.

Derived terms

• a camel is a horse designed by a committee
• a camel is a horse made by a committee
• a camel is a horse made by committee
• anticamel
• Arabian camel
• Bactrian camel
• cama
• camelback
• camelbacked
• CamelCase
• camel case
• camel clutch
• camel driver
• cameleer
• cameleopard
• camelestrian
• camel flu
• camelfucker
• camel-hair brush
• camelish
• camelize
• camel-jockey
• camel jockey
• Camel League
• camellike
• camelman
• camel meat
• cameloid
• camelopard
• camelpox
• camel rider
• camelry
• camelshair
• camel spider
• camelthorn
• camel through the eye of a needle
• camel toe
• dromedary camel
• it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God
• lower camel case
• milch camel
• milk camel
• one-camel town
• sleep camel
• upper camel case
• young camel

 

Related terms

• camelopard
• ship of the desert

 

Descendants

• → Coeur d'Alene: keemel
• → Eastern Arrernte: kamule
• → Tsonga: kamela

Translations

beast of burden

• Abkhaz: амахҽ (amaxĉ)
• Acehnese: unta
• Adyghe: махъчэ (maχčɛ), махъушэ (maχʷušɛ)
• Afar: rakúb
• Afrikaans: kameel (af)
• Akan: afunupɔnkɔ
• Akkadian: 𒃵𒂷 (gammal)
• Albanian: deve (sq) f
• Amharic: ግመል (gəmäl)
• Apache:

  Western Apache: bigháń háʼááhí

• Arabic: جَمَل (ar) m (jamal), نَاقَة (ar) f (nāqa), بَعِير (baʕīr), إِبِل (ar) (ʔibil)

  Egyptian Arabic: جمل m (gamal)

• Aragonese: camello m
• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: גמלא c (gamlā’)

  Syriac: ܓܡܠܐ c (gamlā’)

• Armenian: ուղտ (hy) (uġt)
• Assamese: উট (ut)
• Asturian: camellu (ast) m, camella (ast) f
• Avar: варани (warani)
• Avestan: 𐬎𐬱𐬙𐬭𐬀 (uštra)
• Azerbaijani: dəvə (az), nər
• Baluchi: اشتر (uštar), ہشتر (huštir, huštur)
• Bashkir: дөйә (döyə)
• Basque: gamelu (eu)
• Bau Bidayuh: unta
• Belarusian: вярблю́д m (vjarbljúd)
• Bengali: উট (bn) (uṭ)
• Bikol Central: kamelyo (bcl)
• Breton: kañval Baktria ?
• Brunei Malay: unta
• Bulgarian: ками́ла (bg) f (kamíla)
• Burmese: ကုလားအုတ် (my) (ku.la:ut), ကုလားအုပ် (ku.la:up)
• Buryat: тэмээн (temeen)
• Catalan: camell (ca) m
• Central Melanau: utak
• Chakma: 𑄅𑄑𑄴 (uṭ), 𑄃𑄪𑄑𑄴 (uṭ)
• Cham:

  Eastern Cham: please add this translation if you can

  Western Cham: please add this translation if you can

• Chechen: эмкал (emkal)
• Cherokee: ᎨᎻᎵ (gemili)
• Chichewa: ngamira
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 駱駝／骆驼 (lok³ to⁴)

  Dungan: луәтуә (luətuə)

  Eastern Min: 駱駝／骆驼 (lŏk-dò̤)

  Hakka: 駱駝／骆驼 (lo̍k-thò)

  Hokkien: 駱駝／骆驼 (zh-min-nan) (lo̍k-tô)

  Mandarin: 駱駝／骆驼 (zh) (luòtuó)

  Wu: 駱駝／骆驼 (⁸loq-du)

• Chuvash: тӗве (tĕve)
• Coptic: ϫⲁⲙⲟⲩⲗ m (čamoul)
• Czech: velbloud (cs) m
• Danish: kamel (da) c
• Dhivehi: ޖަމަލު (jamalu), އޮށް (oṣ̊) (male)
• Dutch: kameel (nl) m
• Eastern Arrernte: kamule
• Erzya: дуе (duje), ишем (išem)
• Esperanto: kamelo (eo)
• Estonian: kaamel (et)
• Evenki: тэве̄н (təwēn)
• Ewe: kposɔ n
• Farefare: yʋgnɛ
• Faroese: kamelur m
• Finnish: kameli (fi)
• French: chameau (fr) m, chamelle (fr) f
• Friulian: camęl ?
• Gagauz: devä
• Galician: camelo (gl) m
• Georgian: აქლემი (aklemi)
• German: Kamel (de) n
• Gondi: ఊటడ్ (ūṭaḍ)
• Gothic: 𐌿𐌻𐌱𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌿𐍃 m (ulbandus)
• Greek: καμήλα (el) f (kamíla)

  Ancient: κάμηλος m or f (kámēlos)

• Guaraní: mymba'akãndu
• Gujarati: ઊંટ (gu) m (ū̃ṭa)
• Haitian Creole: chamo
• Hausa: raƙumi m
• Hebrew: גָּמָל (he) m (gamál), נָאקָה (he) f (naká), בֶּכֶר (he) m (bécher) (young camel)
• Hindi: ऊँट (hi) m (ū̃ṭ), उष्ट्र (hi) m (uṣṭra), शुतुर (hi) m (śutur), उंट (hi) m (uṇṭ)
• Hinukh: [script needed] (ʡomokilu)
• Hungarian: teve (hu)
• Icelandic: úlfaldi (is) m
• Ido: kamelo (io)
• Indonesian: unta (id)
• Ingrian: verbljuda
• Iranun: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: camall m
• Italian: cammello (it) m, cammella f
• Japanese: 駱駝 (ja) (らくだ, rakuda), ラクダ (ja) (rakuda)
• Javanese: ꦲꦸꦤ꧀ꦠ (jv) (unta), ꦲꦺꦴꦤ꧀ꦠ (onta)
• Kabiyé: aɖaɖa
• Kabyle: alɣem
• Kalmyk: темән (temän)
• Kannada: ಒಂಟೆ (kn) (oṇṭe)
• Karachay-Balkar: тюе (tüye)
• Karakalpak: tu'ye
• Kashmiri: ووٗنٛٹ m (vū̃ṭ), ووٗنٛٹِنؠ f (vūnṭin'), वूँट m (vū̃ṭ)
• Kazakh: түйе (tüie)
• Khakas: тибе (tibe)
• Khmer: អូដ្ឋ (ʼout)
• Korean: 낙타(駱駝) (ko) (nakta), 락타(駱駝) (ko) (rakta) (North Korea)
• Kumyk: тюе (tüye)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: حوشتر (ckb) (ḧuştir), وشتر (wiştir)

  Northern Kurdish: hêştir (ku) f, deve (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: төө (ky) (töö)
• Ladin: camel ?
• Ladino: gameyo m
• Lak: варани (warani)
• Lao: ອູດ (lo) (ʼūt)
• Latin: camēlus m, camēla f
• Latvian: kamielis m
• Laz: აქრემი (akremi), აქლემი (aklemi)
• Lezgi: лавар (lavar), деве (deve)
• Lithuanian: kupranugaris (lt) m
• Luxembourgish: Kaméil (lb) n
• Macedonian: камила f (kamila)
• Maguindanao: onta
• Malay: unta (ms)
• Malayalam: ഒട്ടകം (ml) (oṭṭakaṁ)
• Maltese: ġemel (mt) m
• Manchu: ᡨᡝᠮᡝᠨ (temen)
• Maranao: onta
• Marathi: उंट ? (uṇṭa)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: верблюд (verbĺud)

• Middle English: olfent, camel
• Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭥𐭱𐭲𐭫 (ʾʿštl /⁠uštar⁠/)
• Mingrelian: არქემი (arkemi)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тэмээ (mn) (temee)

  Mongolian: ᠲᠡᠮᠡᠭᠡ (temege)

• Moore: yʋgemde
• Nanai: тэмэн (temen)
• Nandi: tombes
• Navajo: ghą́ą́ʼaskʼidii
• Nepali: ऊँट (ne) (ū̃ṭ)
• Norman: chanmeau m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kamel (no) m

  Nynorsk: kamel m

• Occitan: camèl (oc) m
• Odia: ଓଟ (oṭa)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: вельбѫдъ m (velĭbǫdŭ)

• Old East Slavic: вельблѫдъ m (velĭblǫdŭ)
• Old English: olfend m
• Old Persian: 𐎢𐏁𐎰𐎼 (u-š-θ-r /⁠ušθra⁠/), 𐎢𐏁 (u-š /⁠uša⁠/)
• Oromo: gaala (om)
• Ossetian: теуа (tewa)
• Ottoman Turkish: دوه (deve)
• Pali: oṭṭha m
• Pashto: اوښ (ps) (ūẍ)
• Persian: شتر (fa) (šotor), اشتر (fa) (oštor)
• Pitjantjatjara: auru
• Plautdietsch: Kameel m
• Polish: wielbłąd (pl) m
• Portuguese: camelo (pt) m, camela (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਊਠ (pa) m (ūṭha)

  Western Panjabi: اوٹھ (ūṭh)

• Rajasthani: ओठारू ? (oṭhārū)
• Rohingya: uñth
• Romani: gumila f
• Romanian: cămilă (ro) f
• Romansch: chamel ?
• Russian: верблю́д (ru) m (verbljúd)
• Rwanda-Rundi: ingamiya, indogoba
• Saho: gaala
• Sanskrit: उष्ट्र (sa) m (uṣṭra)
• Sardinian: camellu m, cammellu m
• Scottish Gaelic: càmhal m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ка̀мила f, де́ва f

  Roman: kàmila (sh) f, déva (sh) f

• Shona: ngamera
• Sicilian: jamiḍḍu m
• Sidamo: gaala
• Sindhi: اُٺُ (sd) m, ڏاچِي f
• Sinhalese: ඔටුවා (oṭuwā)
• Slovak: ťava (sk) f, dromedár (sk) m
• Slovene: kamela (sl) f, velblod (sl) m
• Sogdian: ݎܘܫܬܪ (xuštar)
• Somali: geel (so), awr (so)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kamel m, kamelka f

  Upper Sorbian: kamel m

• Southern Altai: тӧӧ (töö)
• Spanish: camello (es) m, dromedario (es) m, camella (es) f
• Sumerian: 𒄞𒆳𒋛𒄮𒊏𒀭 (AM.SI.ḪAR.RA.AN)
• Swahili: ngamia (sw) class 9/10
• Swedish: kamel (sv) c, dromedar (sv) c
• Sylheti: ꠃꠐ (uṭ)
• Tagalog: kamelyo
• Tajik: шутур (šutur), уштур (uštur)
• Tal: raƙumi
• Tamil: ஒட்டகம் (ta) (oṭṭakam)
• Tarifit: arɣem m
• Tatar: дөя (tt) (döya)
• Tausug: onta
• Telugu: ఒంటె (te) (oṇṭe), లొట్టిపిట్ట (te) (loṭṭipiṭṭa)
• Thai: อูฐ (th) (ùut), โลโต (th) (loo-dtoo) (archaic)
• Tibetan: རྔ་མོང (rnga mong), རྔ་བོང (rnga bong), རྔ་མོ (rnga mo)
• Tigrinya: ገመል (ti) (gämäl)
• Tooro: engamiya class 9, engamira class 9
• Tswana: ^{(please verify)} kamela class 4, ^{(please verify)} kammêla class 9
• Tulu: ಒಂಟೆ (oṇṭe)
• Turkish: deve (tr), hecin (tr)
• Turkmen: düýe
• Tuvan: теве (teve)
• Udi: буш (buš)
• Udmurt: дуэ (due)
• Ukrainian: верблю́д (uk) m (verbljúd)
• Urdu: اونٹ m (ū̃ṭ)
• Uyghur: تۆگە (ug) (töge)
• Uzbek: tuya (uz)
• Venetian: camèło m
• Vietnamese: lạc đà (vi) (駱駝)
• Volapük: jamod (vo)
• Voro: kaamli
• Walloon: chamo (wa) m
• Welsh: camel m
• West Frisian: kamiel c
• Wolof: giléem (wo)
• Yakan: unta'
• Yakut: тэбиэн (tebien)
• Yiddish: קעמל m (keml)
• Yoruba: ràkùnmí
• Zazaki: deve (diq)
• Zhuang: lozdoz

Adjective

camel (not comparable)

1. Of a light brown color like that of a camel.
   • 1999, New Woman, volume 29, page 212:

     […] try to select accessories that are in the same color family as your coat," says millinery designer Patricia Underwood. To pick up the weave of a brown tweed jacket, for instance, choose a camel hat and black gloves.

Descendants

• → Spanish: cámel

Etymology 2

From Afrikaans kameel.

Noun

camel (plural camels)

2. (South Africa, obsolete) Synonym of giraffe

Further reading

• camel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Malec, calme, macle

Middle English

Alternative forms

• camelle, kamel, kamell, camell, cammel, camayle, camaile, camaille, cameylle, camele
• (From Central Old French) chamel, chamayle, schamelle, chamelle, chamell, chamoil

Etymology

From Old Northern French camel, cameil, from Latin camēlus. Some forms are from or influenced by Old French chamel, chamoil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkamɛl/, /kaˈmɛːl/, /kaˈmæi̯l/
• (From Central Old French) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃamɛl/, /t͡ʃaˈmɛːl/, /t͡ʃaˈmæi̯l/

Noun

camel (plural cameles)

1. camel (mammal of the genus Camelus)

Descendants

• English: camel
• Scots: camel

References

• “camē̆l, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-1.

Old French

Etymology

See chamel.

Noun

camel oblique singular, m (oblique plural cameus, nominative singular cameus, nominative plural camel)

1. (Old Northern French, Anglo-Norman) camel

Tocharian B

Etymology

An action noun from täm- (“be born”). Compare Tocharian A cmol.

Noun

camel n

1. birth, rebirth

   alyek cmelne ṣpä ñäkcye cmetsi śaiṣṣene

   and to be born in the divine world in another birth