monochrome

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from Medieval Latin monochrōma,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} from Ancient Greek μονόχρωμος (monókhrōmos, “of one colour”),^[2][8][4][9] formed from μόνος (mónos, “alone, single”) and χρῶμα (khrôma, “colour, complexion, skin”).^[8][2][10] Etymonline traces mónos to Proto-Indo-European *men- (“small, isolated”).^[10] The OED, revising the entry in 2002, instead derives it from Italian monocromo, recorded as a noun in Florio in 1598, formed from mono- and the Greek word for colour after the Greek adjective; it compares a rare Medieval Latin word for a one-coloured image and an isolated French monochrome of 1634.^[9] The Shorter Oxford takes the painting sense from Medieval Latin and the later senses from French.^[7] Klein says that the diarist John Evelyn introduced the word into English.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A painting in different shades of one colour, showing light and shade: 1662, in John Evelyn's Sculptura.^[9][11][3]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a term of painting.^[9][10] In the 19th century it spread to pottery painted or glazed in one colour (1858) and to photographs or prints in shades of one colour (1876), and the phrase in monochrome, in shades of a single colour, appears from 1851.^[9] The adjective, "of one colour", is recorded from 1849, in Ruskin's Seven Lamps of Architecture,^[9][11][10] though Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to 1839.^[3] With photography, film and television it came to mean black and white as opposed to colour, as a noun from 1902 and as an adjective from 1918;^[9] Etymonline dates the photographic sense to 1940.^[10] A figurative sense, dullness or monotony, followed in 1962.^[9][6]

Timeline

• 1662 – a painting in shades of one colour.^[9][11][3]
• 1849 – adjective, having or done in only one colour.^[9][11]
• 1851 – representation in one colour, and the phrase in monochrome.^[9]
• 1858 – a single-coloured glaze, or pottery so glazed.^[9]
• 1876 – a photograph or print in shades of one colour.^[9]
• 1902 – reproduction in black and white.^[9]
• 1918 – adjective, black and white, as opposed to colour.^[9]
• 1962 – dullness, monotony.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A painting, drawing or print done in shades of a single colour; also the technique of making such pictures.^[6][3][9]
2. A black-and-white photograph or transparency.^[6][3][9]
3. Reproduction in black and white, or in shades of one colour: The old film was shot in monochrome.^[6][9]
4. (ceramics) A glaze of one colour, or a piece of pottery so glazed.^[9][3]

Adjective

1. Having, using or done in a single colour or hue: a monochrome print.^[3][6][9]
2. Showing images in black and white or in shades of one colour, as opposed to colour: a monochrome monitor.^[3][9]
3. Dull and lacking anything lively or distinctive; monotonous.^[6][9]

Word family

• monochromic
• monochromist
• monochromically
• monochromy
• monochromator

Related words

• monochromatic
• chroma
• chrome
• polychrome

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology