Meanings
plural pseudo-chromesthesias
- obsoleterarehuman sciencesA type of synesthesia when sounds trigger involuntary, subjective sensations of color; during which a person might see colors when they hear music, specific pitches, words, or everyday noises (e.g. a "blue" sound or a "red" voice); a mental association rather than a true, external visual perception.
In The American Journal of Psychology for October, 1892, Dr. William O. Krohn treats of the curious phenomena of pseudo-chromesthesia, in which sound gives rise to colo sensation, and he explains it by the nearness of the auditory and visual centers in the brain cortex.
1897, Wake, C. Staniland, “Musical Tone and Color”, in Music A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Art, Science, Technic and Literature of Music · Volume 111 more example
The helpfulness of pseudo-chromesthesia is less obvious, yet it is reported in about one-fourth our cases. ' ' Colors do not look right," one subject writes, " unless a word is spelled right. For instance, I spelled permanent, the other day, with two a’s, and it did not look pale enough." Another is helped in writing rhymes, and a third in committing music to memory.
1893, Calkins, Mary Whiton, A Statistical Study of Pseudo-Chromesthesia and of Mental-Forms, The American Journal of Psychology
Origin
From pseudo- + (from the Ancient Greek word pseudēs, meaning "false" or "lying") + chrom (from the Ancient Greek word chrōma, meaning "color" + -esthesia (from the Ancient Greek word aisthēsis, meaning "sensation" or "perception"). In 1848, French physician Dr. Charles-Auguste-Édouard Cornaz became the first person to give a name to the condition of synesthesia, at the time calling it hyperchromatopsia. This term fell out of favor after French physician Dr. Ernest Chabalier coined the term pseudochromesthésie (or pseudochromesthesia, "because of the perception of false colors"). The influence of Chabalier's term continued until the 1900s, when synesthésie eventually evolved into synesthesia.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
pseudo-chromesthesia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pseudo-chromesthesia
“pseudo-chromesthesia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pseudo-chromesthesia. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pseudo-chromesthesia,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pseudo-chromesthesia.
Source: pseudo-chromesthesia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.