chamois

Meanings

Noun

• A short-horned goat antelope native to mountainous terrain in southern Europe; Rupicapra rupicapra (species).
• The traditional colour of chamois leather.
• An absorbent cloth used for cleaning and polishing, formerly made of chamois leather.

Adjective

• Chamois-colored.

Verb

• To clean with a chamois leather cloth.

Origin

• 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).