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Chaos

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chaos¹

  • /ˈkeɪ.ɒs/ UK
  • /ˈkɛjɔs/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /ˈkeɪˌɑs/ US
  • /ˈkeɪ.ɒs/ Canada
  • /ˈkæɪ.ɔs/ Australia
  • /ˈkeɪ.ɒs/ New Zealand
  • [ˈkæɪ.ɔ̟s] ~ [-ɞ̠s] New Zealand
  • /ˈke.ɔs/ Scotland

Rhymes with -eɪɒs

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂-der.

Ancient Greek χαῦνος (khaûnos)

Ancient Greek χάος (kháos)lbor.

English chaos

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos, “vast chasm, void”). Doublet of gas, which was borrowed through Dutch. Displaced native Old English dwolma.

In Early Modern English, used in the sense of the original Greek word. In the meaning “primordial matter” from the 16th century. Figurative usage in the sense “confusion, disorder” from the 17th century. The technical sense in mathematics and science dates from the 1960s.

noun chaoses

  1. uncountable, usually The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony.
  2. uncountable, usually Any state of disorder; a confused or amorphous mixture or conglomeration. to descend into chaos
  3. uncountable, usually A behavior of iterative nonlinear systems in which arbitrarily small variations in initial conditions become magnified over time.
  4. uncountable, usually One of the two metaphysical forces of the world in some fantasy settings, as opposed to law.
  5. obsolete, uncountable, usually A vast chasm or abyss.
  6. obsolete, rare, uncountable, usually A given medium; a space in which something exists or lives; an environment. What is in the centre of the earth, or is it pure element only, as Ariſtotle decrees inhabited as Paracelſus thinks with creatures, whoſe Chaos is the earth with Fairies, as the woods and waters according to him, are with Nymphes or as the ayre with ſpirits.

Similar: disorder

Chaos²

  • /ˈkeɪ.ɒs/ UK
  • /ˈkeɪ.ɑs/ US

Where it comes from

From Latin chaos (“chaos”), from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).

proper noun

  1. Greek In Greek mythology, the primordial state of disorder that exists before the creation of the world, or the first being or deity to exist.
  2. A planetoid and cubewano orbiting in the Kuiper belt.
  3. In the Warhammer franchise, a demonic antagonist that sends demons, monsters, warriors, and beasts to wage war on the games' setting. Chaos warrior, Chaos daemon

CHAOS³

noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism, uncountable Initialism of congenital high airway obstruction syndrome.congenital high airway obstruction syndrome
  2. abbreviation, initialism, slang, uncountable Initialism of can't have anyone over syndrome.can't have anyone over syndrome

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