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χρωματικός

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word χρωματικός

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
100–1 BC Dionysius of Halicarnassus More words from the 1st century BC
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek χρῶμα
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek χρώς (khrṓs)
Ancient Greek χρῶμα (khrôma)
English chroma
French chrome
English chrome
Latin chrōma
Ancient Greek χρωματικός (khrōmatikós)
Latin chrōmaticus
English chromatic

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /kʰrɔː.ma.ti.kós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /xro.ma.tiˈkos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /xro.ma.tiˈkos/[1]

Forms

χρωμᾰτῐκός (khrōmatikós) m (feminine χρωμᾰτῐκή, neuter χρωμᾰτῐκόν); first/second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek χρῶμα (khrôma, “skin; colour; chromatic scale”) with the suffix -τικός (-tikós), added to the stem of the genitive χρώματος (khrṓmatos).[1][2][3] LSJ ties its musical sense to that of the noun, used of the chromatic scale.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1st century BC), of chromatic melodies.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Although formed as “relating to colour”, the adjective is used mostly in music: a chromatic melody or genus, set against the diatonic (διάτονος (diátonos)) and the enharmonic (ἐναρμόνιος (enarmónios)) genera, in Philodemus, Philo, Plutarch and Alciphron.[4][5] In rhetoric it described a coloured, florid style, and the rhetorician Apsines uses it for a kind of rebuttal that offers a plausible pretext.[4][3]

It passed into Latin as chrōmaticus, from which English chromatic (about 1600) comes, first in music.[7] Modern Greek χρωματικός (chromatikós) is a learned word, “of colour”, and in music “chromatic”.[8][9]

Timeline

  • 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Philodemus use it in music.[4][5][6]
  • 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch names the chromatic genus.[4][5]
  • 3rd century AD – Apsines uses it for a form of rebuttal.[4][6]
  • About 1600 – English takes it, through Latin, as chromatic.[7]
  • Modern Greek – The learned χρωματικός (chromatikós) means “of colour” and “chromatic”.[8][9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Relating to colour.[4][9]
  2. (music) Chromatic; τὸ χρωματικόν, the chromatic genus.[4][3]
  3. (rhetoric) Coloured, florid (of style); offering a plausible pretext, the name of a form of rebuttal.[4][3][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
  3. ^ a b c d Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  6. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  10. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
Cite this entry

“Χρωματικός.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CF%87%CF%81%CF%89%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C%CF%82. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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