Prefix · time / temporal order
Signals time or temporal relationship: chronological, chronology, chronicle, chronic, anachronism.
Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated
Chrono- comes from the Greek chronos, which means "time". It shows a relation to time or to the order in which things happen. It is spelled chrono- when what follows starts with a consonant, and it is the most common form in words about measuring and order.
This prefix shows up in two very different worlds. In watchmaking and technology, it describes instruments that measure or record time precisely. In medicine, it is used to talk about how things change over time, for example when a condition lasts for a long period instead of appearing suddenly. That is why you see chrono- on watch faces as well as in medical charts.
Attaches to nouns relating to time and history:
Pronunciation: /ˈkrɒnəʊ/. "Chronic" and "chronicle" lose the full prefix form but come from the same Greek root "chronos."
chrono-/ˈkrɒnəʊ/
Tap the button to hear how the prefix sounds. Each word in the table has its own audio.
"Chronic" (from Greek "chronos" = time) = persisting over a long time or recurring regularly. A chronic condition can be mild but persistent (chronic headaches = frequent, recurring headaches). The medical opposite is "acute" (= sudden onset, intense but not necessarily long-lasting). "Chronic" describes duration; "acute" describes onset pattern. Neither implies a specific severity level.
"Anachronism" (ana- = against/back + chronos = time) = something that is out of its proper time. A smartphone in a scene set in 1875 is an anachronism — it is a specifically temporal error. A "historical error" can be any factual mistake (wrong uniform, wrong name, wrong geography) — only temporal displacement is an anachronism.
A trick to remember it
Same idea as chron-: think of a chronometer, a precise time-keeper. chronological, chronic.
Exercise 1 · Form the word
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
"The film is full of ___ — there are smartphones visible in a scene set in 1875."
Exercise 3 · Pick the right one
What is the difference between "chronic" and "acute" in medicine?
The prefix chrono- signals time or temporal relationship: chronological, chronology, chronicle, chronic, anachronism.
The prefix chrono- is pronounced /ˈkrɒnəʊ/. For example, "chronological".
"logical" becomes "chronological". It is a typical example of the chrono- prefix.
un-, re-, pre-, dis-, over-, in-... every beginning you need to unlock thousands of English words at once.