camera

Learned borrowing from Latin camera (“chamber or bedchamber”), from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “anything with an arched cover, a covered carriage or boat, a vaulted chamber, a vault”), of Old Iranian origin, from Proto-Iranian *kamarā- (“something curved”), from *kamárati, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kmárati, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- (“to bend, curve”). Doublet of chamber.

(device): An ellipsis of camera obscura, from New Latin camera obscura (“dark chamber”), because the first cameras used a pinhole and a dark room.

• (Received Pronunciation, Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈkæməɹə/, /ˈkæmɹə/
• (Standard Southern British, Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈkaməɹə/, /ˈkamɹə/
• (Scotland, Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈkaməɾə/, /ˈkamɾə/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈkæməɹə/, /ˈkæmɚ.ə/, /ˈkæmɹə/

  • Audio (US); /ˈkæmɹə/:

    (file)

  • Audio (General American); /ˈkæmɚ.ə/:

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛməɹə/, /ˈkɛmɹə/
• Hyphenation: cam‧er‧a, cam‧era

camera (plural cameras or (rare) cameræ or (rare) camerae)

2. (photography) A device for taking still or moving pictures or photographs.
   • 2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist:

     The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail. It’s therefore not surprising that most cameras mimic this arrangement.

   • 2024 October 5, Jessie Yeung, “Hong Kong plans to install thousands of surveillance cameras. Critics say it’s more proof the city is moving closer to China”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Glance up while strolling through parts of downtown Hong Kong and, chances are, you’ll notice the glassy black lens of a surveillance camera trained on the city’s crowded streets.
     And that sight will become more common in the coming years, as the city’s police pursue an ambitious campaign to install thousands of cameras to elevate their surveillance capabilities.

3. (computer graphics, video games) The viewpoint in a three-dimensional game or simulation.
   • 2003, Tom Meigs, Ultimate game design: building game worlds:

     If you're building a third-person game with enclosed or tight spaces, try to figure out up front what camera problems you will likely encounter. Use this identification process to influence the early building process.

   • 2006, Patrick O'Luanaigh, Game Design Complete:

     I'm talking about the way the camera flies up above the skater when you leap into the air. No one had done it before.

4. A vaulted room.
5. A judge's private chamber, where cases may be heard in camera.

• camera on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “camera”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “camera”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “camera”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Macrae, Macera

Learned borrowing from New Latin camera obscura (“dark chamber”), from Latin camera (“chamber, bedchamber”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaː.mə.raː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ca‧me‧ra

camera f (plural camera's, diminutive cameraatje n)

1. camera

• camcorder
• kamer
• webcam

• Afrikaans: kamera
• → Indonesian: kamera

• IPA^(key): /kam.ʁa/

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

camera

1. third-person singular simple future of camer

• IPA^(key): /ˈka.me.ra/

camera (plural cameras)

1. room, chamber

From Latin camera, from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára). Doublet of zambra.

• IPA^(key): /ˈka.me.ra/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -amera
• Hyphenation: cà‧me‧ra

camera f (plural camere, diminutive camerétta or camerìna or camerìno m or (literary) camerèlla, augmentative cameróna or cameróne m, pejorative cameràccia, derogatory camerùccia)

1. room; chamber (all senses)

   Synonyms: stanza, sala

2. bedroom
3. assembly, parliament
4. camera (for taking moving pictures)

   Synonym: telecamera

• camerlengo

• → Arabic: قمرة (qamara, qamra)
• → Ottoman Turkish: قامره, قماره
  • Turkish: kamara
  • → Armenian: խամառա (xamaṙa)
• → Serbo-Croatian: kamara / камара

• arcame, macera

From Latin camera.

camera f (plural cameres)

1. chamber, room

Borrowed from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “anything with an arched cover, a covered carriage or boat, a vaulted chamber, a vault”).

• camara (Classical Latin)
• cambra (Medieval Latin)

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈka.mɛ.ra]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkaː.me.ra]

camera f (genitive camerae); first declension

1. A chamber in its various senses, including:
   1. A room, especially a vaulted room, a vault.
   2. A deliberative body.

First-declension noun.

• camella
• camera obscura (New Latin)
• concamerō

Many forms are from the variant camara.

Borrowings

• “camera”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “camera”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "camera", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “camera”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “chamber”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈka.mɛ.raː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkaː.me.ra]

camerā

1. second-person singular present active imperative of camerō

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaː²məʀa/

camera m (plural camera's, diminutive camerake)

1. (photography) camera

• cameramaan (“cameraman”)

• “camera”, in D'n Dictionair‎^[2] (overall work in English, Dutch, and Limburgish), Limburgish Academy, 2007-present

camera f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of cameră

• IPA^(key): /kaˈmeɾa/ [kaˈme.ɾa]
• Rhymes: -eɾa
• Syllabification: ca‧me‧ra

camera f (plural cameras)

1. female equivalent of camero

camera f

1. feminine singular of camero

Borrowed from English camera, from Latin camera, from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára), of Old Iranian origin.

camera m (plural camerâu)

1. camera

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “camera”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies