A.Word.A.Day --chimeric

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Today's Word

chimeric

PRONUNCIATION:

(KY/KI-mer-ik)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Made up of parts that are very different.
2. Fanciful; imaginative; illusory.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Chimera, a fire-breathing female monster in Greek mythology who had a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail. From Greek khimaira (she-goat), ultimately from the Indo-European root ghei- (winter), which also gave us chimera (literally, a female animal that is one winter, or one year old), hibernate, and the Himalayas, from Sanskrit him (snow) + alaya (abode). Earliest documented use: 1655.

USAGE:

“And yet ‘The Snow Leopard’ manages to convey the impression of being subtly yet fundamentally about its stated subject matter, albeit in some chimeric way -- part literal, part figurative.”
Kathryn Schulz; Cat Tales; The New Yorker; Jul 12, 2021.

See more usage examples of chimeric in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The ultimate sense of security will be when we come to recognize that we are all part of one human race. Our primary allegiance is to the human race and not to one particular color or border. I think the sooner we renounce the sanctity of these many identities and try to identify ourselves with the human race the sooner we will get a better world and a safer world. -Mohamed ElBaradei, diplomat, Nobel laureate (b. 17 Jun 1942)

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