Chimera

Chimera refers originally to a mythic creature described in ancient Mediterranean tradition as a single being composed of multiple animal parts, often combining a lion, goat, and serpent. Its form represents hybridity and boundary crossing rather than a natural species. Over time, the term came to describe any imagined or conceptual mixture that joins elements normally kept separate. In literary and symbolic usage, a chimera can represent instability, excess, or imaginative construction, emphasizing how different qualities are fused into one figure rather than existing independently.