# camouflage

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkæ.məˌflɑːʒ/ · frequency rank #16,660

## Definitions
1. A disguise or covering up.
2. The act of disguising.
3. The use of natural or artificial material on personnel, objects, or tactical positions with the aim of confusing, misleading, or evading the enemy.
4. A pattern on clothing consisting of irregularly shaped patches that are either greenish/brownish, brownish/whitish, or bluish/whitish, as used by ground combat forces.
5. The resemblance of an organism to its surroundings for avoiding detection.
6. Clothes made from camouflage fabric, for concealment in combat or hunting.

## Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French camouflage, from camoufler (“to veil, disguise”), alteration (due to camouflet (“smoke blown in one's face”)) of Italian camuffare (“to muffle the head”), from ca- (from Italian capo (“head”)) + muffare (“to muffle”), from Medieval Latin muffula, muffla (“muff”). This Medieval Latin, from which there is also English muffle, is either derived from a Frankish *molfell (“soft garment made of hide”) from *mol (“softened, forworn”) (akin to Old High German molawēn (“to soften”), Middle High German molwic (“soft”)) + *fell (“hide, skin”), from Proto-Germanic *fellą (“skin, film, fleece”), or, an alternate etymology traces it to a Frankish *muffël (“a muff, wrap, envelope”) composed of *mauwa (“sleeve, wrap”) from Proto-Germanic *mawwō (“sleeve”) + *fell (“skin, hide”) from Proto-Germanic *fellą (“skin, film, fleece”).

## Common misspellings (14)
`acmouflage`, `cammouflage`, `camofulage`, `camoufalge`, `camoufflage`, `camouflaeg`, `camouflagge`, `camouflgae`, `camoufllage`, `camoulfage`, `camuoflage`, `caomuflage`, `ccamouflage`, `cmaouflage`

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