Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Chronometer
/krəˈnɒmɪtər/noun
A timepiece accurate and stable enough to be certified for navigation or precision work.
The Greek roots
χρόνος
chrónos
time
μέτρον
métron
measure
Literally: “time measurer”
The story of the word
Jeremy Thacker used the word in 1714 in a pamphlet about the longitude problem, for a clock steady enough at sea to tell a captain where he was. John Harrison built such a clock forty years later and the name stuck to precision instruments. Chrónos also produced chronic, anachronism and, by way of Cambridge slang for a long-standing companion, crony.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1714
Same family
chronicchronologyanachronismbarometer
In a sentence
The ship carried three chronometers so that a disagreement between two could be settled.
Only a movement that passes the Swiss tests may be sold as a chronometer.