chimera

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
chimera /kʌɪˈmɪərə, kɪ-/ (also chimaera)

▶noun

• 1 Greek Mythology a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.

• 2 something hoped for but illusory or impossible to achieve.

• 3 Biology an organism containing a mixture of genetically different tissues, formed by processes such as fusion of early embryos, grafting, or mutation.

• 4 (chimaera) a long-tailed cartilaginous marine fish with an erect spine before the first dorsal fin. [Chimaera and other genera, family Chimaeridae.]

– derivatives
chimeric /-ˈmɛrɪk/ adjective,
chimerical adjective,
chimerically adverb.

– origin ME: via L. from Gk khimaira ‘she-goat or chimera’.