chrome

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /krəʊm/, US /kroʊm/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French chrome, from Ancient Greek χρῶμα (khrôma, “colour”) (see chromatic),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} because its compounds have brilliant colours.^{[2][3][7][5][6]} The element was isolated in 1797–8 by the French chemist Louis Nicolas Vauquelin.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The metal now called chromium: 1800.^[2][3][8][5]

Semantic evolution

Chrome stayed in commercial use for chrome steel after the element's name was changed to chromium.^[3] Pigments from chromate of lead were called chrome in the 19th century,^[4] and chromium compounds for dyeing or tanning from 1876.^[8] As short for chromium plating it dates from 1937,^[3][8] and the verb, to add chrome fittings to a car, from 1954.^[8] The verb, to treat with a chromium solution, is from 1876.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1797 – the element named.^[2]
• 1800 – chrome.^[2][8]
• 1876 – to chrome (verb).^[2][8]
• 1937 – chromium plating.^[3][8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Chromium, especially as a pigment or dye.
2. Anything plated with chromium, such as the fittings of a car.
3. A pigment or dye containing chromium.

Verb

1. To plate with chromium.
2. To treat with a chromium compound, as in dyeing or tanning.

Word family

• bichrome
• chromize
• chromic
• chromite
• chromous
• mercurochrome

Related words

• chromium
• chromatic
• chromosome
• chroma

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press