chamois

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a soft suede leather formerly from the skin of the chamois antelope but now from sheepskin
  2. noun hoofed mammal of mountains of Eurasia having upright horns with backward-hooked tips

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).

In classic literature

Synonyms

chamois leather, chammy, chammy leather, shammy, shammy leather

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