Camelot

See also: camelot

English

Etymology

First attested in Old French as Camaalot in Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart. In the US politics sense a reference to the contemporary musical Camelot (1960), associated with the Kennedy era.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkæm.əˌlɒt/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (US, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈkæm.əˌlɑt/, [ˈkɛəm.əˌlɑt]
  • (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈkæm.əˌlɔt/

Proper noun

Camelot

  1. (Arthurian legend) A mythical location in England. The stronghold of King Arthur in the Arthurian legend.
  2. (US politics) The administration and surrounding mystique of President John F. Kennedy.
    • 2025 January 17, Ross Douthat, quoting Marc Andreessen, “How Democrats Drove Silicon Valley Into Trump’s Arms”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
      Of course you want to fund all these programs, and you want to fund all these activist campaigns. Of course you want that. The term “Camelot” was never used, but there was a Camelot feeling to it at the time that people must have felt in the early ’60s in the same way.

Coordinate terms

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Translations

See also

Further reading

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French Camalot, from Old French Camaalot.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kam.lo/, /kam.lɔt/

Proper noun

Camelot ?

  1. (Arthurian legend) Camelot

See also

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kameˈlot/ [ka.meˈlot̪]
  • Rhymes: -ot
  • Syllabification: Ca‧me‧lot

Proper noun

Camelot m

  1. (Arthurian mythology) Camelot