Translingual

Proper noun

Chaos n

1. A taxonomic genus within the family Amoebidae – several very large amoebae.

Hypernyms

• (genus): Eukaryota - superkingdom; Protozoa - kingdom; Sarcomastigota - subkingdom; Amoebozoa - phylum; Protamoebae - subphylum; Lobosea - class; Euamoebida - order; Amoebidae - family

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaːɔs/

Noun

Chaos n ‎(genitive Chaos, no plural)

1. chaos

Declension

Derived terms

Latin

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek χάος ‎(kháos).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkʰa.os/, [ˈkʰa.ɔs]

Proper noun

Chaos m ‎(genitive Chaī); second declension

1. ****, the Underworld
2. the shapeless primordial universe

Usage notes

• The plural is a rare and very late development.

• 1878, Ludwig Dindorff, Karl Müller, Diodori Siculi bibliothecae quae supersunt ex nova recensione, volume 2, page 604:

  Graeci Phasin fluvium transgress per Chaorum, Phasianorum, Chaldaeorum etc. regiones in Chenium montem evadunt unde ingenti gaudio mare prospiciunt.

• 1904, Giacomo Tropea, Rivista di storia antica, page 607:

  In paragrapho prima Diodorus de Graecorum adventu in Chaorum terras tradit: […] Ipse Dindorfius in latina versione Xenophontis scribit "Chaorum" atque inter uncos "Thaochorum".

Inflection

References

• Chăŏs or Chăus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “chăŏs”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette, page 298/3.
• “chaos” on page 309/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)

English

Noun

chaos ‎(usually uncountable, plural chaoses)

1. (obsolete) A vast chasm or abyss.
2. The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony
3. Any state of disorder, any confused or amorphous mixture or conglomeration.
   • 1977, Irwin Edman, Adam, the Baby, and the Man from Mars, page 54:

     or out of these chaoses order may be made, out of this ferment a clear wine of life. There are chaoses that have gone too far for retrieval

4. (obsolete, rare) A given medium; a space in which something exists or lives; an environment.
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.ii.3:

     What is the centre of the earth? is it pure element only, as Aristotle decrees, inhabited (as Paracelsus thinks) with creatures whose chaos is the earth: or with fairies, as the woods and waters (according to him) are with nymphs, or as the air with spirits?

5. (mathematics) Behaviour of iterative non-linear systems in which arbitrarily small variations in initial conditions become magnified over time.
6. (fantasy) One of the two metaphysical forces of the world in some fantasy settings, as opposed to law.

Synonyms

• See Wikisaurus:disorder

Antonyms

• (classical cosmogony): cosmos
• (state of disorder): order

Derived terms

Related terms

• chaotropic
• chaotropism

Translations

See also

• entropy
• discord
• capricious

Dutch

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χάος ‎(kháos).

Pronunciation

Noun

chaos m ‎(uncountable)

1. chaos

Synonyms

• rommel
• wanorde
• warboel

Antonyms

• netheid
• orde

Derived terms

• chaotisch

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin chaos, from Ancient Greek χάος ‎(kháos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.o/

Noun

chaos m ‎(uncountable)

1. chaos

Latin

Etymology

Borrowing from Ancient Greek χάος ‎(kháos).

Noun

chaos n ‎(genitive chaī); second declension

1. chaos

Declension

Second declension, Greek type.

Descendants

• Italian: caosse, cao, caos

References

• chaos in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• chaos in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia
• chaos in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• chaos in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Polish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χάος ‎(kháos, “vast chasm, void”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxaɔs̪/

Noun

chaos m inan

1. chaos

Declension

Derived terms

• chaotyczny