Earth & SkyGreek → English
Chasm
/ˈkæzəm/noun
A deep split in rock, or an unbridgeable gap between people or positions.
The Greek roots
χάσμα
khásma
gaping hollow, gulf
Literally: “a yawning”
Follow a root:χάσμα1 word
The story of the word
χάσμα is a gaping, from the verb for opening the mouth wide. Hesiod's χάος belongs to the same root, so the first thing that ever existed was a yawn rather than a mess. English borrowed chasm in the 16th century for a literal cleft, and the figurative gulf followed almost immediately. Van Helmont coined gas from that same χάος around 1640.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
Same family
chaosgas
In a sentence
A chasm opened in the road where the culvert collapsed.