The story
- Ancient Greek · derived fromχρῶμα“colour”
- German · borrowed fromChromosom
- English todaychromosome
19th century: from German Chromosom, ultimately from Ancient Greek χρῶμα (khrôma, “colour”) + σῶμα (sôma, “body”) (because they are stained under the microscope). Equivalent to chromo- + -some.
Words from the same roots
Ancient Greekχρῶμα all →
chromiumchromatinchromachromameterchromo-chromothripsischromuledichromacydichromaticdichromicmonochromacypanchromiumthermochromytrichromacy
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.