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Added 10 October 2026

chaos

/ˈkeɪ.ɒs/ noun

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about chaos at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony.
Any state of disorder; a confused or amorphous mixture or conglomeration.
to descend into chaos
A behavior of iterative nonlinear systems in which arbitrarily small variations in initial conditions become magnified over time.

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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