Matamata

name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A side-necked turtle of species Chelus fimbriata, whose shell resembles a dead leaf.
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A town in Waikato, North Island, New Zealand.

Synonyms

All synonyms
chameleondragonreptile

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese matamatá, from Nheengatu and Old Tupi matamatá.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Māori.

Related phrases

side necked turtle

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.