Word.ws English Dictionary

caiman

/ˈkeɪ.mən/

caiman noun: any of the relatively small crocodilians of the genus Caiman, within the family Alligatoridae.

caiman: any of the relatively small crocodilians of the genus Caiman, within the family Alligatoridae
Image: Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

caiman (plural caimans)

  1. (strictly) Any of the relatively small crocodilians of the genus Caiman, within the family Alligatoridae.
    • Caimans are reptiles that are closely related to their Central and South American neighbors, the alligators. Adult caimans are usually four to six feet (1.8 m) in length.1995, Laurie Agopian, Extended Thematic Unit: Rain Forest, page 32
    • The caimans are found in South America, mainly in the Amazon basin, with one species extending into the southern part of Mexico and another reaching northern parts of Argentina.2002, International Wildlife Encyclopedia: Brown bear - Cheetah, 3rd Edition, page 358
  2. (broadly) A crocodilian of the subfamily Caimaninae, which includes the very large black caiman.
  3. A semi-aquatic lizard, of the genus Dracaena, found in South America. To differentiate from crocodilian caimans, they are referred to as caiman lizards.

Proper noun capitalized: Caiman

Caiman

  1. (alternative, archaic) Alternative form of Cayman.

caiman meaning in Hindi, Arabic, Persian and Thai

caiman in Hindi

alligator relative
कैमान kaimān

caiman in Arabic

alligator relative
كَيَامِن kayāmin, كَيْمَن kayman

caiman in Persian

alligator relative
کیمن kayman

caiman in Thai

alligator relative
เคแมน
More languagesFewer languages
caiman in Vietnamese
cá sấu

Forms of caiman

pluralcaimans
alternative formcayman

Origin of caiman

From Spanish caimán or Portuguese caimão, from Kari'na acayouman.

Words formed from caiman

Phrases with caiman

Words that rhyme with caiman

1 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about caiman

What does caiman mean?
Caiman means any of the relatively small crocodilians of the genus Caiman, within the family Alligatoridae.
What is caiman in Hindi?
Caiman in Hindi is कैमान (kaimān). See Caiman meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is caiman?
Caiman can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce caiman?
Caiman is pronounced /ˈkeɪ.mən/.
What is the plural of caiman?
The plural of caiman is caimans.

Words near caiman in the dictionary

  1. caimakams
  2. caimakan
  3. caimakans
  4. caimal
  5. caimals
  6. caiman
  7. caiman lizard
  8. caiman lizards
  9. caimanine
  10. caimanines
  11. caimans

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: caiman (page history and authors); Caiman (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-caiman.wav.

Cite this entry: “caiman.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/caiman. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.