Cameroon

C3A1M3E1R1O1O1N1
/kæməˈɹuːn/

proper noun

A country in Central Africa. Official name: Republic of Cameroon. Capital: Yaoundé. It also claims Ambazonia.

CommonScrabble 12

Meanings

Cameroon1

proper noun
  1. A country in Central Africa. Official name: Republic of Cameroon. Capital: Yaoundé. It also claims Ambazonia.

    Security officials say such a move makes it easy for Boko Haram to infiltrate Cameroon and gather vital security information.

    2015 March 3, Ngala Killian Chimtom, “Cameroon in for long fight as its youth join Boko Haram”, in CNN
nounCameroon (plural Cameroons)

plural Cameroons

  1. A sheep of a domesticated breed from West Africa.

Cameroon2

nounCameroon (plural Cameroons)

plural Cameroons

  1. UKgovernmentA Conservative Party member with green or social liberal leanings, supporting the policies of David Cameron.

    Maude was a moderniser before modernity dawned in the Tory ranks, a Cameroon before David Cameron.

    2012 March 30, James Chapman, “Gorgeous George and why Ed Miliband must now pray Ken Livingstone wins London”, in Daily Mail, archived from the original on 19 May 2012
    3 more examples

    He fears that in downplaying traditional Conservative causes, in changing the party to be more in tune with modern Britain, the Cameroons have in effect accepted that they won't change the country much in office.

    2007 March 21, Andy Beckett, “The Cameroons”, in The Guardian

    Today, I spy a coalition outrider: Nick Boles, MP for Grantham, founder of Policy Exchange and the archetypal Cameroon ultra-modernizer. I don’t think Boles even owned a tie until he was elected to the House of Commons. That’s how much of a Cameroon the man is.

    2010 September 13, Iain Martin, “Nick Boles: The Coalition’s Cameroon Outrider”, in Wall Street Journal

    Mr Cameron won significantly smaller vote shares than either Theresa May or Boris Johnson. There are not many Cameroons in Britain. Outside some newspaper op-ed pages, there never were.

    2023 November 13, Bagehot, “What David Cameron's return says about British politics”, in Economist

Origin

Cameroon · proper noun, noun

  1. Ancient Greekκάμμαρος (kámmaros)
  2. Latincammārus
  3. Portuguesecamarão
  4. PortugueseRio dos Camarões
  5. PortugueseCamarões
  6. FrenchCameroun
  7. EnglishCameroon

Borrowed from French Cameroun, from Portuguese Rio dos Camarões (“river of prawns”), a name given to the Wouri river estuary, in 1472 by the sailors of the Portuguese explorer Fernão do Pó (a.k.a. Fernando Pó), raving about the abundance of shrimps of the species Lepidophthalmus turneranus (the Cameroon ghost shrimp) in the river; camarão itself is from Latin cammarus (“lobster”), from Ancient Greek κάμμαρος (kámmaros, “a kind of lobster or shrimp”).

Full word history & related roots →

Cameroon · noun

Alteration of Cameron, influenced by -oon.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans Kameroen
  • Kameroencountry in Central Africa
Arabic الْكَامِيرُون, الْكَمِيرُون
  • الْكَامِيرُون (al-kāmīrūn)country in Central Africa
  • الْكَمِيرُون (al-kamīrūn)country in Central Africa
Basque Kamerun
  • Kameruncountry in Central Africa
Bengali ক্যামেরুন
  • ক্যামেরুন (kêmerun)country in Central Africa
Bulgarian Камеру́н
  • Камеру́н (Kamerún)country in Central Africa
Catalan Camerun
  • Cameruncountry in Central Africa
Chinese Mandarin 喀麥隆 /喀麦隆
  • 喀麥隆 /喀麦隆 (Kāmàilóng)country in Central Africa
Czech Kamerun
  • Kameruncountry in Central Africa
Danish Cameroun
  • Camerouncountry in Central Africa
Dutch Kameroen
  • Kameroencountry in Central Africa
Esperanto Kamerunio, Kameruno
  • Kameruniocountry in Central Africa
  • Kamerunocountry in Central Africa
Estonian Kamerun
  • Kameruncountry in Central Africa
Finnish Kamerun
  • Kameruncountry in Central Africa
French Cameroun
  • Camerouncountry in Central Africa
German Kamerun
  • Kameruncountry in Central Africa
Greek Καμερούν
  • Καμερούν (Kameroún)country in Central Africa
Hebrew קִמְרוֹן
  • קִמְרוֹן (kamerun)country in Central Africa
Hindi कैमरून
  • कैमरून (kaimrūn)country in Central Africa
Hungarian Kamerun
  • Kameruncountry in Central Africa
Icelandic Kamerún
  • Kamerúncountry in Central Africa
Irish Camarún
  • Camarúncountry in Central Africa
Italian Camerun
  • Cameruncountry in Central Africa
Japanese カメルーン
  • カメルーン (Kamerūn)country in Central Africa
Korean 카메룬, 까메룬
  • 카메룬 (Kamerun)country in Central Africa
  • 까메룬 (Kkamerun)country in Central Africa
Latvian Kamerūna
  • Kamerūnacountry in Central Africa
Lithuanian Kamerūnas
  • Kamerūnascountry in Central Africa
Māori Kamarūna
  • Kamarūnacountry in Central Africa
Norwegian Bokmål Kamerun
  • Kameruncountry in Central Africa
Persian کامرون
  • کامرون (kâmerun)country in Central Africa
Polish Kamerun
  • Kameruncountry in Central Africa
Portuguese Camarões
  • Camarõescountry in Central Africa
Romanian Camerun
  • Cameruncountry in Central Africa
Russian Камеру́н
  • Камеру́н (Kamerún)country in Central Africa
Slovak Kamerun
  • Kameruncountry in Central Africa
Spanish Camerún
  • Camerúncountry in Central Africa
Swahili Kameruni
  • Kamerunicountry in Central Africa
Swedish Kamerun
  • Kameruncountry in Central Africa
Tagalog Kamerun
  • Kameruncountry in Central Africa
Tamil கேமரூன், கமரூன்
  • கேமரூன் (kēmarūṉ)country in Central Africa
  • கமரூன் (kamarūṉ)country in Central Africa
  • கமெரூன் (kamerūṉ)country in Central Africa
Thai แคเมอรูน
  • แคเมอรูน (kɛɛ-məə-ruun)country in Central Africa
Turkish Kamerun
  • Kameruncountry in Central Africa
Ukrainian Камеру́н
  • Камеру́н (Kamerún)country in Central Africa
Urdu کیمرون
  • کیمرون (kaimarūn)country in Central Africa
Vietnamese Ca-mơ-run
  • Ca-mơ-runcountry in Central Africa

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Cameroon

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

Cameroon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cameroon

MLA

“Cameroon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cameroon. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Cameroon,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cameroon.

Source: Cameroon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.