chamois

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French chamois, from Late Latin camox, from Gaulish camox (5th c. AD, Polemius Silvius), probably from an extinct Alpine language (Raetic, Ancient Ligurian), possibly Proto-Indo-European *kem- (“without horns”). Compare also Old High German gamiza (“chamois”) (whence modern German Gämse).

Pronunciation

• Of the color sense (both nominal 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 nominal and adjectival) and of the sense concerning leather (in the singular):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃæmi/
  • Rhymes: -æmi
• Of the sense concerning leather (in the plural):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃæmiz/

Noun

Rupicapra rupicapra (1)

chamois (countable and uncountable, plural chamoises or chamois)

1. A short-horned goat antelope native to mountainous terrain in southern Europe; Rupicapra rupicapra.
   • 1831 October 31, Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, chapter I, in Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (Standard Novels; IX), 3rd edition, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 22:

     When my father returned from Milan, he found playing with me in the hall of our villa a child fairer than pictured cherub – a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hills.

2. Short for chamois leather (“soft pliable leather originally made from the skin of chamois (nowadays the hides of deer, sheep, and other species of goat are alternatively used)”).
   • 1825 June 22, [Walter Scott], chapter XVI, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume I (The Betrothed), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 317:

     [H]e seldom donned his armour, substituted costly damask and silk for his war-worn shamoy doublet, and affected at his advanced time of life more gaiety of attire than his contemporaries remembered as distinguishing his early youth.

3. The traditional colour of chamois leather.

   chamois:  

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.

5. (cycling) A padded insert which protects the groin from the bicycle saddle.

Alternative forms

• chamoix
• shamois
• shamoy (obsolete)

Derived terms

• cattle chamois
• chammy, shammy
• chamois leather
• Pyrenean chamois

Translations

goat-like antelope

• Albanian: kamoshë f
• Aragonese: sarrio
• Armenian: այծյամ (hy) (aycyam)
• Asturian: robecu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: qarapaça
• Basque: sarrio
• Belarusian: са́рна f (sárna)
• Breton: chamoez m
• Bulgarian: дива коза f (diva koza)
• Catalan: camussa (ca) f, isard (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 臆羚 (yìlíng), 岩羚羊 (yánlíngyáng)

• Czech: kamzík (cs) m
• Danish: gemse
• Dutch: gems (nl) f
• Esperanto: ĉamo
• Estonian: mägikits
• Faroese: gemsa f
• Finnish: gemssi (fi)
• French: chamois (fr) m, isard (fr) m (Pyrenean chamois)
• Friulian: cjamoç
• Galician: rebezo (gl), camurza f
• German: Gämse (de) f, Gams (de) f

  Alemannic German: Gemschi n

• Greek: αγριόγιδο (el) n (agriógido), αγριοκάτσικο (el) n (agriokátsiko), αίγαγρος (el) m (aígagros)
• Hungarian: zerge (hu)
• Icelandic: gemsa f
• Ido: chamo (io)
• Irish: seamaí m
• Italian: camoscio (it) m, rupicapra f
• Japanese: シャモア (ja) (shamoa), カモシカ (ja) (kamojika)
• Ladin: ciamorc
• Lak: гьинта (hinta)
• Latin: ībex m
• Lithuanian: gemzė
• Lower Sorbian: źiwa koza
• Macedonian: дивокоза f (divokoza)
• Maltese: kamoxx
• Maori: temera
• Mingrelian: ერსქემი (erskemi)
• Northern Sami: álpagáica
• Norwegian: gemse
• Occitan: camóç, isard
• Old English: firgengāt f
• Polish: kozica (pl) f, giemza (pl) f
• Portuguese: camurça (pt)
• Romanian: șamoa (ro) m, capră-neagră (ro) f, capră-de-munte (ro) f
• Romansch: chamutsch m (Rumantsch Grischun), camutsch m (Sursilvan), tgamutsch m (Sutsilvan, Surmiran), chamuotsch m (Puter, Vallader)
• Russian: се́рна (ru) f (sérna), чёрный козёл m (čórnyj kozjól)
• Sardinian: camussa, crabu aresti, camùsciu
• Scottish Gaelic: somar
• Serbo-Croatian: дивокоза f, divokoza (sh) f
• Slovak: kamzík horský (sk) m, kamzík (sk) m
• Slovene: gams (sl) m
• Spanish: gamuza (es) f, rebeco (es) m, sarrio (es) m (Pyrenean chamois)
• Swedish: gems (sv) c, stenget (sv) c
• Tagalog: gamusa
• Turkish: dağ keçisi (tr)
• Ukrainian: се́рна f (sérna), са́рна f (sárna)
• Upper Sorbian: kamzyk, gemsa, skalna koza
• Welsh: siami m, gafrewig f
• West Frisian: gems

cloth

• Albanian: kamosh (sq) m
• Bulgarian: гюдерия (bg) f (gjuderija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沙穆瓦 (shāmùwǎ), 麂皮 (zh) (jǐpí), 麂皮革 (jǐpígé), 油鞣革 (zh) (yóuróugé)

• Finnish: säämiskä (fi)
• French: chamois (fr) m
• German: Sämischleder (de) n
• Ido: chamopelo (io)
• Irish: seamaí m
• Italian: camoscio (it)
• Japanese: シャモア (ja) (shamoa)
• Persian: کیمخت (fa) (kimoxt)
• Polish: giemza (pl) f
• Russian: за́мша (ru) f (zámša)
• Spanish: gamuza (es) f
• Tagalog: gamusa
• Turkish: güderi (tr)

colour

• Ido: chamea (io)
• Italian: camoscio (it)
• Russian: ^{(please verify)} кори́чнево-жёлтый m (koríčnevo-žóltyj)
• Spanish: gamuza (es)

Adjective

chamois (not comparable)

1. Chamois-colored.

Verb

chamois (third-person singular simple present chamoises, present participle chamoising, simple past and past participle chamoised)

1. (transitive) To clean with a chamois leather cloth.

   Synonym: shammy

See also

• Appendix:Colors

References

• Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN

Anagrams

• chamiso

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French chamois, from Late Latin camox, from Gaulish camox (5th c. AD, Polemius Silvius), probably from an extinct Alpine language (Raetic, Ancient Ligurian), possibly Proto-Indo-European *kem- (“without horns”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃa.mwa/

• Audio (France)

  (file)

Noun

chamois m (plural chamois)

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

Derived terms

• chamoiserie
• peau de chamois

Descendants

• → Esperanto: ĉamo
  • Ido: chamo
• → Romanian: chamois, șamoa
• → Spanish: chamuz

Further reading

• “chamois”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• chômais

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French chamois.

Noun

chamois n (uncountable)

1. chamois leather

Declension

declension of chamois (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) chamois	chamoisul
genitive/dative	(unui) chamois	chamoisului
vocative	chamoisule