# camera

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkæm.ə.ɹə/ · frequency rank #1,417

## Definitions
1. A device for taking still or moving pictures or photographs.
2. The viewpoint in a three-dimensional game or simulation.
3. A vaulted room.
4. A judge's private chamber, where cases may be heard in camera.

## Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin camera (“chamber or bedchamber”), from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “anything with an arched cover, a covered carriage or boat, a vaulted chamber, a vault”), of Old Iranian origin, from Proto-Iranian *kamarā- (“something curved”), from *kamárati, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kmárati, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- (“to bend, curve”). Doublet of chamber.
(device): A clipping of camera obscura, from New Latin camera obscura (“dark chamber”), because the first cameras used a pinhole and a dark room.

## Easily confused with
- **Cara** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camera-vs-cara)
- **cater** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camera-vs-cater)
- **caper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camera-vs-caper)
- **carer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camera-vs-carer)
- **comer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camera-vs-comer)
- **camper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camera-vs-camper)
- **caters** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camera-vs-caters)
- **cavern** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camera-vs-cavern)
- **Cramer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camera-vs-cramer)
- **Cameron** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camera-vs-cameron)
- **chimera** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camera-vs-chimera)
- **Carrera** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camera-vs-carrera)
- **came** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/came-vs-camera)
- **camel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camel-vs-camera)
- **cameo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cameo-vs-camera)
- **camels** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camels-vs-camera)
- **calmer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/calmer-vs-camera)
- **camber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/camber-vs-camera)
- **Cabrera** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cabrera-vs-camera)
- **Cambria** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cambria-vs-camera)

## Common misspellings (8)
`acmera`, `caemra`, `camear`, `camerra`, `cammera`, `camrea`, `ccamera`, `cmaera`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/camera