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camouflage

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camouflage

  • /ˈkæ.məˌflɑːʒ/

Where it comes from

Unadapted borrowing from French camouflage, from camoufler (“to veil, disguise”), alteration (due to camouflet (“smoke blown in one's face”)) of Italian camuffare (“to muffle the head”), from ca- (from Italian capo (“head”)) + muffare (“to muffle”), from Medieval Latin muffula, muffla (“muff”). This Medieval Latin, from which there is also English muffle, is either derived from a Frankish *molfell (“soft garment made of hide”) from *mol (“softened, forworn”) (akin to Old High German molawēn (“to soften”), Middle High German molwic (“soft”)) + *fell (“hide, skin”), from Proto-Germanic *fellą (“skin, film, fleece”), or, an alternate etymology traces it to a Frankish *muffël (“a muff, wrap, envelope”) composed of *mauwa (“sleeve, wrap”) from Proto-Germanic *mawwō (“sleeve”) + *fell (“skin, hide”) from Proto-Germanic *fellą (“skin, film, fleece”).

noun camouflages

  1. countable, uncountable A disguise or covering up.
  2. countable, uncountable The act of disguising.
  3. countable, uncountable The use of natural or artificial material on personnel, objects, or tactical positions with the aim of confusing, misleading, or evading the enemy.
  4. countable, uncountable A pattern on clothing consisting of irregularly shaped patches that are either greenish/brownish, brownish/whitish, or bluish/whitish, as used by ground combat forces.
  5. countable, uncountable The resemblance of an organism to its surroundings for avoiding detection. Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close[…]above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them. Many insects probably use this strategy, which is a close analogy to
  6. countable, uncountable Clothes made from camouflage fabric, for concealment in combat or hunting.

verb camouflages · camouflaging · camouflaged

  1. transitive To hide or disguise something by covering it up or changing its appearance. THE CONCISE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF WORLD RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES. Edited by P. Ransome-Wallis. Hutchinson. 50s. A gaudy jacket, remarkably out of keeping with the contents, camouflages the weightiest and meatiest work on a railway topic since the war.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: disguise, masking, mask, shield, hide, bury, guise, conceal, concealment, whitewash, cover-up, disruptive, dissemble, pretend, pretense, sham

Translations

Every language

noun disguise

日本語迷彩 meisai
Portuguêscamuflagem
Françaisdéguisement
DeutschTarnmaterial, Tarnung
Românăcamuflaj
Русскийкамуфля́ж kamufljáž, маскиро́вка maskiróvka
العربيةتَمْوِيه tamwīh

noun act of disguising

Portuguêscamuflagem
Françaiscamouflage
DeutschTarnen
Italianocamuffaggio
Românăcamuflare
Русскийкамуфля́ж kamufljáž, маскиро́вка maskiróvka

noun military

Portuguêscamuflagem
Françaiscamouflage
DeutschTarnen, Tarnung, Camouflage
Italianomimetizzazione
Ελληνικάκαμουφλάζ kamoufláz
Русскийкамуфля́ж kamufljáž, маскиро́вка maskiróvka

noun pattern

한국어미채 michae
日本語迷彩 meisai
中文迷彩 mícǎi
DeutschTarnmuster

noun biology

한국어보호색 bohosaek
日本語保護色 hogoshoku
中文保護色 /保护色 bǎohùsè
Portuguêscamuflagem
Françaiscamouflage
DeutschTarnung
Ελληνικάκαμουφλάζ kamoufláz

noun clothes

한국어위장복 wijangbok
日本語迷彩服 meisaifuku
中文迷彩服 mícǎifú
DeutschTarnanzug

verb hide, disguise

Españolcamuflar, camuflajear
Portuguêscamuflar
Françaiscamoufler
Deutschtarnen
Italianocamuffare
Românăcamufla
Русскийкамуфли́ровать kamuflírovatʹ, закамуфли́ровать zakamuflírovatʹ, маскирова́ть maskirovátʹ, замаскирова́ть zamaskirovátʹ
עבריתהסווה hisvá

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Cite this
MLA

"camouflage." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/camouflage. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

camouflage. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/camouflage

Chicago

"camouflage." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/camouflage.

BibTeX
@misc{camouflage_2026,
  title = {camouflage},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/camouflage},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}