Amazon

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Amazon

Wikipedia

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæm.ə.zən/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈæm.əˌzɑn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈæm.ə.zɔn/, /-ɒn/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈɛm.ə.zɔn/, /-ɒn/

From Middle English, from Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἀμαζών (Amazṓn); perhaps Ionian Greek pronunciation of Old Persian *hamazan- (“warrior”), as the Amazon women were known warriors. A popular folk etymology, of Ancient Greek provenance, claims that the word derives from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + μαζός (mazós, “breast”), referencing the belief that Amazons cut off their right breast so that it would not hinder their ability to fire a bow or throw a spear.

Amazon (plural Amazons)

1. (Greek mythology) A member of a mythical race of female warriors inhabiting the Black Sea area.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 149:

     When, therefore, one envisions a matriarchy, one should not conjure up visions of a gang of Amazons lopping off breasts and testicles to rule by force of arms.

2. A female warrior.
   • 1976, Xenia S. Williams, “The Power of History...or History Is Written by the Powerful”, in Dave Peterson, Johnathan Cross, Lyn Rosen, editors, A Gay Person's Guide to New England, 2 edition:

     In some parts of Africa, Asia, and South America, amazon cultures still existed during the Middle Ages, such as that ruled by Queen Nzingha in Angola, who led her amazon army against the Portuguese in a series of wars during the first half of the seventeenth century. In Dahomey also in traditionally gynarchal West Africa, the army was made up of amazons even through the nineteenth century.

3. A tall, strong, or athletic woman.

From Spanish, Río Amazonas. It is common belief that the Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana fought a battle against a tribe of Tapuya natives, in which the women fought alongside the men, and that he derived the name from the Amazons in Greek mythology.

the Amazon

2. (sometimes attributive) A river in South America, that flows through Brazil for about 4000 miles to the Atlantic.
3. (sometimes attributive) A region including much of this river; specifically, the region of the Amazon Rainforest, or of the Amazon River Basin.

   Amazon milk frog

   • 2025 April 4, Lex Harvey and Esha Mitra, “US tourist arrested after allegedly attempting to contact ‘world’s most isolated’ tribe”, in CNN‎:

     In February, a young man from an isolated Indigenous tribe in Brazil made brief contact with the outside world before returning to the Amazon rainforest.

Amazon (plural Amazons)

1. Any of the large parrots from the genus Amazona.

Chosen by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as a word beginning with 'A' which had existing connotations (see meanings listed in etymologies 1 & 2) of being exotic, different, and (as the Amazon River) the largest of its kind in the world.^[1]

Amazon

1. (Should we delete⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) Amazon.com Inc., a very large Internet retailer.
   • 2021 February 1, Rishi Iyengar, “Google will stop making video games for its Stadia platform”, in CNN Business‎:

     Google is one of several Big Tech firms that has made an aggressive push into gaming in recent years, along with Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL) and Facebook (FB).

Amazon (third-person singular simple present Amazons, present participle Amazoning, simple past and past participle Amazoned)

1. (transitive) To overwhelm or obliterate, in the context of an Internet start-up vastly outperforming its brick and mortar competition.
   • 1998 November 4, George Anders, “Discomfort Zone: Some Big Companies Long to Embrace Web But Settle for Flirtation — They Fear Online Marketing Could Cause Sales Staffs And Distributors to Rebel — A Risk of Getting ‘Amazoned’”, in The Wall Street Journal, page A1:

     Those who hesitate risk being "amazoned," forfeiting business to an Internet newcomer, in the way that bookstore chains have lost ground to Amazon.com Inc., the online bookseller.

   • 1999 Aug, Andrew Wileman, “Smart cookies: Get set to Amazon”, in Management Today, page 79:

     Venture capitalists' desks are thick with business plans promising ‘we're going to Amazon the insurance/travel/property business...’

   • 1999, Tim Smith, InternetWeek (786), "Getting Customers Totally Integrated – Cisco CIO Pete Solvik", 1999-10-25, p. 98

     Take the example of MetalSite.com, which is owned by steel companies. The steel companies aren't getting "Amazoned" by a start-up but, rather, they are doing the "Amazoning" within their own industry.

   • 1999, "Amazon Expands", InternetWeek (789), 1999-11-15, p. 11

     Amazon.com may soon be "amazoning" a few more industries.

   • 2000 November 20, Bob Tedeschi, “E-Commerce Report: Web and catalog businesses are crossing into storefront territory, creating parallel avenues of retailing”, in The New York Times, page C12:

     Gone are the days when they agonized about being "Amazoned", or blind-sided by a dot-com ....

   • 2001 July 4, Saul Hansell, “Web Sales of Airline Tickets Are Making Hefty Advances”, in The New York Times, page A1:

     In other industries, established companies are pulling people and money away from their Internet operations, as their fear of being "Amazoned" by start-ups has subsided.

   • 2001 November 18, Steve Lohr, “Gearhead Nation: A Time Out for Technophilia”, in The New York Times, page WK4:

     Meanwhile, traditional companies would be obliterated — "Amazoned" — by Internet upstarts.

   • 2002 June 30, Scott Harris, “Roots in Israel, Head in Silicon Valley”, in The New York Times, page B8:

     "Everybody was afraid of getting Amazoned," Mr. Landan said. "They didn't want to get left behind."

From Ancient Greek Ἀμαζών (Amazṓn).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑmɑtson/,
• IPA^(key): /ˈɑmɑzon/,
• Rhymes: -ɑmɑtson
• Syllabification^(key): A‧ma‧zon
• Hyphenation^(key): A‧ma‧zon

Amazon

1. Amazon (river)

• amatsoni

Amazon

1. Rōmaji transcription of アマゾン

From Ancient Greek Ἀμαζών (Amazṓn)

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key):
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key):

Amāzōn f (genitive Amāzonis); third declension

1. an Amazon
2. a female warrior

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant).

• “Amazon”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Amazon”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Amazon in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 109/3.