chameleon

Meanings

Noun

• A small to mid-size reptile, of the family Chamaeleonidae, and one of the best known lizard families able to change color and project its long tongue.
• A person with inconstant behavior; one able to quickly adjust to new circumstances.
• A hypothetical scalar particle with a non-linear self-interaction, giving it an effective mass that depends on its environment: the presence of other fields.

Adjective

• Describing something that changes color.

Origin

• From Middle English camelion, from Old French cameleon, from Latin chamaeleon, from Ancient Greek χαμαιλέων, from χαμαί + λέων; ultimately a calque from Akkadian 𒌨𒈤𒊭𒆠. The spelling was re-latinized in the early 18th century. The physics sense was and in a paper in Physical Review Letters.