noun
Meaning 1
A piece of jewelry, etc., carved in relief.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
cameo
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkæm.iː.əʊ/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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General-American: /ˈkæm.i.oʊ/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: K AE1 M IY0 OW2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A single very brief appearance, especially by a prominent celebrity in a movie or song.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- Famous comic book writer Stan Lee had a cameo in the Spider-Man movie. He was on screen for perhaps ten seconds, but aficionados distinctly remember him.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
To appear in a cameo role.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
engraving or carving in low relief on a stone (as in a brooch or ring)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: anaglyph
History
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian cammeo, from Medieval Latin camaeus, of unknown origin. The movie sense is short for “cameo role” referring to a famous person who was playing no character, but him or herself. Like a cameo brooch — a low-relief carving of a person’s head or bust — the actor or celebrity is instantly recognizable. More recently, it has come to refer to any short appearances, whether as a character or as oneself. Doublet of camaieu.
Across languages
Translations
40 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Basque: kameu — relief work
- Catalan: camafeu — relief work
- Chinese Mandarin: 带浮雕的珠宝 (dàifúdiāo dì zhūbǎo) — relief work
- Czech: kamej — relief work
- Czech: medailónek — relief work
- Czech: medailón — relief work
- Danish: kamé — relief work
- Dutch: camee — relief work
- Estonian: kamee — relief work
- Finnish: kamee — relief work
- Finnish: kameekoru — relief work
- French: camaïeu — relief work
- German: Camée — relief work
- German: Kamee — relief work
- Middle High German: camaziel — relief work
- Hungarian: kámea — relief work
- Italian: cammeo — relief work
- Polish: kamea — relief work
- Portuguese: camafeu — relief work
- Romanian: camee — relief work
- Russian: камея (kameja) — relief work
- Spanish: camafeo — relief work
- Swedish: kamé — relief work
- Turkish: işlemeli akik — relief work
- Chinese Mandarin: 客串出演 (kèchuàn-chūyǎn) — brief appearance
- Czech: epizodní výstup — brief appearance
- Czech: epizodní role — brief appearance
- Czech: štěk — brief appearance
- Esperanto: kameo — brief appearance
- Finnish: cameorooli — brief appearance
- French: caméo — brief appearance
- German: Kurzauftritt — brief appearance
- German: Cameo-Auftritt — brief appearance
- Hebrew: הופעת קמע (hofa'at kame'a) — brief appearance
- Hungarian: kámeaszerep — brief appearance
- Italian: cammeo — brief appearance
- Japanese: カメオ出演 (kameo-shutsuen) — brief appearance
- Polish: cameo — brief appearance
- Russian: камео (kameo) — brief appearance
- Spanish: cameo — brief appearance
Real reading context