chaos

See also: Chaos, CHAOS, and chãos

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos, “vast chasm, void”). Doublet of gas, which was borrowed through Dutch.

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkeɪ.ɒs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkeɪ.ɑs/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪɒs

Noun

chaos (usually uncountable, plural chaoses)

1. The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony.
2. Any state of disorder; a confused or amorphous mixture or conglomeration.

   to descend into chaos

   After the earthquake, the local hospital was in chaos

   • 1977, Irwin Edman, Adam, the Baby, and the Man from Mars, page 54:

     or out of these chaoses order may be made, out of this ferment a clear wine of life. There are chaoses that have gone too far for retrieval

3. (mathematics) A behaviour of iterative non-linear systems in which arbitrarily small variations in initial conditions become magnified over time.
4. (fantasy) One of the two metaphysical forces of the world in some fantasy settings, as opposed to law.
5. (obsolete) A vast chasm or abyss.
6. (obsolete, rare) A given medium; a space in which something exists or lives; an environment.
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Aire rectified. With a digression of the Aire.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 2, member 3, page 320:

     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.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:disorder

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “classical cosmogony”): cosmos
• (antonym(s) of “state of disorder”): order

Derived terms

• antichaos
• chaophilia
• chaoplexity
• chaos cooking
• chaoslike
• chaos magic
• chaosmos
• chaosphere
• chaos theorist
• chaos theory
• chaotic
• chaotician
• chaotropic
• controlled chaos
• homeochaos
• hyperchaos
• nonchaos

 

Related terms

• chaotropic
• chaotropism

Translations

in classical cosmogony

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 混沌こんとん (zh) (hùndùn)

• Dutch: chaos (nl) m, baaierd (nl) m
• Finnish: kaaos (fi)
• Greek: χάος (el) n (cháos)

  Ancient Greek: χάος n (kháos)

• Hebrew: תֹּהוּ וָבֹהוּ (he) m (tóhu vavóhu)
• Japanese: 混沌こんとん (ja) (こんとん, konton)
• Macedonian: ха́ос m (háos)
• Old English: dwolma m
• Polish: chaos (pl) m
• Romanian: haos (ro) n
• Russian: ха́ос (ru) m (xáos), хао́с (ru) m (xaós)
• Spanish: caos (es)
• Tagalog: dimayaw

state of disorder

• Albanian: rrëmujë (sq) f
• Arabic: فَوْضَى f (fawḍā)

  Hijazi Arabic: لخبطة f (laḵbaṭa), حوسة f (ḥōsa), خربطة f (ḵarbaṭa)

• Armenian: քաոս (hy) (kʻaos)
• Azerbaijani: hərc-mərclik
• Belarusian: хао́с m (xaós), ха́ас m (xáas)
• Bulgarian: хаос (bg) m (haos), безредие (bg) n (bezredie)
• Catalan: caos (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 混沌こんとん (zh) (hùndùn), 混亂こんらん／混乱こんらん (zh) (hùnluàn), 渾沌こんとん／浑沌 (zh) (húndùn)

• Czech: chaos (cs) m
• Danish: kaos n
• Dutch: chaos (nl) m, wanorde (nl) c
• Esperanto: ĥaoso, kaoso
• Estonian: kaos, tohuvabohu (et)
• Finnish: kaaos (fi), epäjärjestys (fi), sekasorto (fi)
• French: chaos (fr) m
• Galician: caos (gl) m
• Georgian: ქაოსი (ka) (kaosi)
• German: Chaos (de) n, Unordnung (de) f, Durcheinander (de) n, Wirrwarr (de) m, Wirrsal (de) f or n

  Alemannic German: Chrüsimüsi n

• Greek: χάος (el) n (cháos)

  Ancient Greek: ταραχή f (tarakhḗ)

• Hebrew: תוהו ובוהו (he) (tóhu vavóhu), כאוס (he) (kéos)
• Hungarian: káosz (hu)
• Icelandic: ringulreið (is) f
• Ido: kaoso (io)
• Indonesian: kekacauan (id), prahara (id)
• Interlingua: chaos
• Irish: anord m
• Italian: caos (it) m
• Japanese: 混乱こんらん (ja) (こんらん, konran), 無秩序むちつじょ (ja) (むちつじょ, muchitsujo), 混沌こんとん (ja) (こんとん, konton), カオス (ja) (kaosu)
• Khmer: សង្ករ (km) (saŋ, sɑŋkɑɑ, sɑŋka’ra’)
• Korean: 혼돈(混沌こんとん) (ko) (hondon)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: haoss m
• Lithuanian: chaosas m
• Macedonian: ха́ос m (háos), безре́дие n (bezrédie)
• Malay: huru hara
• Maori: kaumingomingo, aneatanga (As an aftermath of war/ conflict)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: эмх замбараагүй байдал (emx zambaraagüj bajdal)

• Norwegian: kaos (no)
• Old English: dwolma m
• Ottoman Turkish: قارش (karış)
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: آشوب (fa) (âšub)
• Plautdietsch: Wirwoa m
• Polish: chaos (pl) m
• Portuguese: caos (pt) m
• Romanian: haos (ro) n
• Romansch: caos m
• Russian: ха́ос (ru) m (xáos), хао́с (ru) m (xaós), беспоря́док (ru) m (besporjádok)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хаос m (Bosnian, Serbian), каос m (Croatian)

  Roman: haos (sh) m (Bosnian, Serbian), kaos (sh) m (Croatian)

• Slovene: kaos m
• Spanish: caos (es)
• Swahili: kesheshe
• Swedish: kaos (sv) n
• Tagalog: dimayaw, kaguluhan
• Thai: ความยุ่งเหยิง (th) (kwaam-yûng-yə̌əng), ความโกลาหล (th) (kwaam-goo-laa-hǒn), ความสับสนวุ่นวาย
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: хао́с m (xaós)
• Vietnamese: hỗn loạn (vi) (混亂こんらん)

mathematics

• Bulgarian: хаос (bg) m (haos)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 混沌こんとん (zh) (hùndùn)

• Finnish: kaaos (fi)
• Greek: χάος (el) n (cháos)
• Japanese: カオス (ja) (kaosu)
• Macedonian: ха́ос m (háos)
• Polish: chaos (pl) m
• Romanian: haos (ro) n
• Russian: ха́ос (ru) m (xáos), хао́с (ru) m (xaós)
• Swedish: kaos (sv) n
• Tagalog: dimayaw
• Thai: ความอลวน, ความโกลาหล (th) (kwaam-goo-laa-hǒn), ความไร้ระเบียบ

See also

• entropy
• discord

Anagrams

• Socha, oshac

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch chaos, from Middle Dutch caos, from Latin chaos, from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).

Noun

chaos (uncountable)

1. chaos (disorder)
2. (cosmogony) primordial disorder

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos, “vast chasm, void”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈxaos]

Noun

chaos m inan

1. chaos (state of disorder)

   Antonym: řád

   • 1875, Josef Durdík, Všeobecná aesthetika.[1]:

     Ano i když pomíjíme všechny všednější odstíny smyslu, básníci velebí řád, myslíce si při tom na protivu jeho, chaos, a vědouce, že ve všem co se líbí, musí být jistý řád; a na druhé straně mají právě zas řád za průjev nesvobody [...]

Declension

Declension of chaos (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	chaos	chaosy
genitive	chaosu	chaosů
dative	chaosu	chaosům
accusative	chaos	chaosy
vocative	chaose	chaosy
locative	chaosu	chaosech
instrumental	chaosem	chaosy

Related terms

• chaotický

 

See also

• zmatek
• změť
• nepořádek
• neřád
• nahodilost
• entropie
• nekonzistence

Further reading

• “chaos”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “chaos”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “chaos”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)
• "chaos a řád" in Google Books search

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch caos, from Latin chaos, from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxaː.ɔs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cha‧os

Noun

chaos m (uncountable)

1. chaos (disorder)

   Synonyms: baaierd, rommel, wanorde, warboel

2. (cosmogony) primordial disorder

Antonyms

• netheid
• orde

Derived terms

• chaostheoretisch
• chaostheorie
• chaotisch
• gas

Descendants

• Afrikaans: chaos
• → West Frisian: gaos
• → Indonesian: kaos

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin chaos, from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.o/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o

Noun

chaos m (uncountable)

1. chaos

Further reading

• “chaos”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkʰa.os/, [ˈkʰäɔs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.os/, [ˈkäːos]

Noun

chaos n sg (genitive chaī); second declension

1. Alternative letter-case form of Chaos

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter, Greek-type), singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	chaos
Genitive	chaī
Dative	chaō
Accusative	chaos
Ablative	chaō
Vocative	chaos

Descendants

• French: chaos
• Italian: caos, caosse, cao
• Portuguese: caos
• Romanian: haos, caos
• Spanish: caos

References

• “chaos”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “chaos”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[2]
• “chaos”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “chaos”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin chaos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxa.ɔs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɔs
• Syllabification: cha‧os

Noun

chaos m inan

1. (Greek mythology) chaos (unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony)

   Hypernym: materia

2. chaos (state of disorder; a confused or amorphous mixture or conglomeration)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:zamieszanie

   Antonym: ład

3. chaos (behavior of iterative non-linear systems in which arbitrarily small variations in initial conditions become magnified over time)

Declension

Declension of chaos

	singular
nominative	chaos
genitive	chaosu
dative	chaosowi
accusative	chaos
instrumental	chaosem
locative	chaosie
vocative	chaosie

Related terms

adjectives

• chaotyczny

 

adverbs

• chaotycznie

 

nouns

• chaotyczność

 

Further reading

• chaos in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• chaos in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• chaos in PWN's encyclopedia

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈxaɔs]

Noun

chaos m inan (genitive singular chaosu, nominative plural chaosy, genitive plural chaosov, declension pattern of dub)

1. chaos

Declension

Declension of chaos

	singular	plural
nominative	chaos	chaosy
genitive	chaosu	chaosov
dative	chaosu	chaosom
accusative	chaos	chaosy
locative	chaose	chaosoch
instrumental	chaosom	chaosmi

References

• “chaos”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024