Etymology

chromium

C3H4R1O1M3I1U1M3

Today it means: A chemical element (symbol Cr) with an atomic number of 24: a steely-grey, lustrous, hard and brittle transition metal. Full definition →

New Latin chromium ← French chrome ← Ancient Greek χρῶμα (khrôma)
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The story

  1. Proto-Hellenic*kʰrṓwmə
  2. Ancient Greekχρῶμα (khrôma)
  3. Frenchchrome
  4. New Latinchromium
  5. English todaychromium

From New Latin, from French chrome (from Ancient Greek χρῶμα (khrôma, “color”)) + -ium. So called because of the striking colors of its compounds.

Words from the same roots

Frenchchrome all →

chrome

Ancient Greekχρῶμα all →

chromosomechromatinchromachromameterchromo-chromothripsischromuledichromacydichromaticdichromicmonochromacypanchromiumthermochromytrichromacy

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.