Word.ws English Dictionary

dromedary

Syllables: drom·e·da·ry/ˈdɹɒmɪdəɹi//ˈdɹɑməˌdɛɹi/

dromedary noun: the single-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius).

dromedary: the single-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius)
Image: Clément Bardot, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

dromedary (plural dromedaries)

  1. The single-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius).
    • The duke in his schelde and dreches no lengere, / Drawes hym a dromedarie, with dredfulle knyghtez; […][c. 1400, Edmund Brock, editor, Morte Arthure, or The Death of Arthur: Edited from Robert Thornton’s MS. […], new edition (in Middle English), London: Published for the Early English Text Society, by...
    • The Dromedarie, Camell, Horſe, and Aſſe, / For loade and carriage doth a Sheepe ſurpaſſe: […]1630, John Taylor, “Taylors Pastorall, being Both Historicall and Satyricall. […]”, in All the Workes of Iohn Taylor the Water-poet. […], London: […] Iames Boler; […], →OCLC, page 52; republished in...
    Synonyms:
    Arabian camel, dromedarian, dromedary camel, Somali camel
  2. Any swift riding camel.
    • [T]hou art like a ſwift dromedarie, that runneth by his wayes.1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Ieremiáh II:23, folio...
  3. (attributive, dated) Referring to a biphasic clinical course of poliomyelitis, typically occurring in children, characterized by a minor illness, followed by an asymptomatic period of several days before the onset of a major illness involving the central nervous system.
    • The untreated cases have been arranged in three groups according to the clinical course. The first group, called the dromedary group, shows the curious phenomenon of two different periods of illness with an interval of well-being. […] Because of the two distinct groups or humps of symptoms, the...1917 April 21, George Draper, “Acute Poliomyelitis: Early Diagnosis and Serum Therapy”, in The Journal of the American Medical Association, volume 68, number 16, Chicago, Ill., →DOI, page 1153

Proper noun capitalized: Dromedary

Dromedary

  1. A locality in Brighton council area and the Southern Midlands council area, south eastern Tasmania, Australia.

dromedary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Gujarati

dromedary in Hindi

single-humped camel
ऊँट ū̃ṭ, सांडनी sāṇḍnī

dromedary in Tamil

இதுவும் ஒரு சிற்றினம் ஆகும்

dromedary in Urdu

single-humped camel
اونٹ ū̃ṭ, سانڈنی sāṇḍnī

dromedary in Gujarati

single-humped camel
સાંઢણી sā̃ḍhṇī
More languagesFewer languages
dromedary in Persian
شتر šotor
dromedary in Vietnamese
lạc đà một bướu, lạc đà Ả Rập
Kashmiri
ووٗنٛٹ vū̃ṭ, ووٗنٛٹِنؠ vūnṭin'

Examples of dromedary in a sentence

  • [T]he Dromedarie […] who is marvellous ſwift, and will run an hundred miles in a day; but the Germanes call a dull and ſlow man a Dromedary, […]1650, Edward Leigh, “Δρόμος [Drómos]”, in Critica Sacra in Two Parts: The First Containing Observations on All the Radices, or Primitive...
  • Oh, thou Dromedary, thou Founder'd Mule, without a Pack-ſaddle; or what other foul Beaſt ſhall I call thee, for Man thou art not, nor haſt not been to me, Heaven knows the time when?1694, [Thomas] d’Urfey, The Comical History of Don Quixote. […], part I, London: […] Samuel Briscoe, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 6:
  • [T]he camel has two bunches upon his back, whereas the dromedary has but one; the latter alſo, is neither ſo large, nor ſo ſtrong, as the camel.1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “The Camel, and the Dromedary”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume IV...

Synonyms of dromedary

Forms of dromedary

pluraldromedaries
alternative formdromedarie

Origin of dromedary

From Middle English dromedari, dromedarie (“dromedary; any camel”) [and other forms], from Old French dromedaire, from Late Latin dromedārius (“kind of camel”), from Latin *dromadārius, from dromas, dromadis (“dromedary”) + -ārius (suffix forming nouns denoting agents of use). Dromas and dromadis are derived from Ancient Greek δρομᾰ́ς (dromắs, “running; dromedary”), an ellipsis of δρομὰς κάμηλος (dromàs kámēlos, “running camel”), from δρόμος (drómos, “race, running; race course, track”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *drem- (“to run”).

Words formed from dromedary

Phrases with dromedary

Questions about dromedary

What does dromedary mean?
Dromedary means the single-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius).
What is dromedary in Hindi?
Dromedary in Hindi is ऊँट (ū̃ṭ), सांडनी (sāṇḍnī). See Dromedary meaning in Hindi.
How do you use dromedary in a sentence?
[T]he Dromedarie […] who is marvellous ſwift, and will run an hundred miles in a day; but the Germanes call a dull and ſlow man a Dromedary, […]
What part of speech is dromedary?
Dromedary can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce dromedary?
Dromedary is pronounced /ˈdɹɒmɪdəɹi/ (UK).
What is the plural of dromedary?
The plural of dromedary is dromedaries.

Words near dromedary in the dictionary

  1. dromedarians
  2. dromedarie
  3. dromedaries
  4. dromedarist
  5. dromedarists
  6. dromedary
  7. dromedary camel
  8. dromedary camels
  9. dromeosaur
  10. dromeosaurid
  11. dromeosaurids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dromedary (page history and authors); Dromedary (page history and authors); dromedary (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-dromedary.wav, En-us-dromedary.mp3.

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