Etymologically
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chrome

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 14:08. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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
  • 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