Slova
Chameleon is pronounced kuh-MEE-lee-un. It has four syllables with the stress on the second, and the ch is a K sound. Many Americans shorten it to three syllables: kuh-MEEL-yun.
chameleon
noun · a lizard that can change the color of its skin; a person who changes to fit in
Also said: US /kəˈmiːl.jən/.
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Cambridge also lists /kəˈmiːl.jən/ for American English. The recording is American English.
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
USUK American and British English/kəˈmiː.li.ən/
kuh
MEEstressed
lee
un
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes chameleon, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. The ch is a K sound: kuh. Then put the stress on MEE.
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chameleon
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What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say kuh-MEE-lee-un.
Notchuh-MEE-lee-un
Saying ch as in chair. In this Greek word it is K.
Notkuh-MEL-ee-un
Using the e of bed. The stressed vowel is ee: MEE.
Notkuh-mee-lee-ON
Stressing the end, as in Spanish camaleón. The beat is on MEE, and un is weak.
Hear each one, slow it down, then say it. Words change a little when they join others, so practise them in sentences too.
A chameleon can move each eye on its own.
He is a social chameleon who fits in anywhere.
We saw a green chameleon on a branch.
Chameleon is Greek: khamaileōn, from khamai, on the ground, and leōn, lion. A ground lion. The same khamai is in chamomile, a plant that grows low to the ground.
Middle English spelled it camelion, with a plain c. In the early 1700s the spelling went back to the Latin chamaeleon, and the h came in. The sound stayed the same: the ch is a K.
The -leon part keeps two syllables, lee-un, as in Napoleon. Cambridge also lists a shorter American form, kuh-MEEL-yun. Either way, put the stress on MEE.
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
In Slova you say new words out loud in every lesson, at your level, in lessons built around what you love.