A species of lizard which has the faculty of changing the colour of its skin. It is ranked among the unclean animals in Leviticus 11:30 , where the Hebrew word so translated is Coah (RSV, "land crocodile"). In the same verse the Hebrew Tanshemeth , rendered in Authorized Version "mole," is in Revised Version "chameleon," which is the correct rendering. This animal is very common in Egypt and in the Holy Land, especially in the Jordan valley.
Source
- part_of
source-manifest/easton— Easton's Bible Dictionary (PD)