bichromatic
|bi-chro-mat-ic|
🇺🇸
/ˌbaɪkroʊˈmætɪk/
🇬🇧
/ˌbaɪkrəʊˈmætɪk/
involving exactly two colors (or two wavelengths)
Etymology
'bichromatic' originates from Latin and Greek, specifically the combining form 'bi-' from Latin 'bis' meaning 'twice' and Greek 'chroma' (χρῶμα) meaning 'color', with the adjectival suffix '-ic'.
'bichromatic' was formed in 19th‑century scientific English by combining 'bi-' with the existing adjective 'chromatic' (from Greek 'chrōmatikos'), and it eventually became the modern English word 'bichromatic'.
Initially, it meant 'having two colors', and later extended in technical fields to mean 'involving two wavelengths (optics)' and 'using two classes or labels (mathematics/computing)'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
having or consisting of two colors.
The designer chose a bichromatic palette of black and gold.
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Adjective 2
in optics, involving or using two wavelengths of light.
The experiment used a bichromatic laser to trap the atoms.
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Adjective 3
in mathematics or computing, involving two distinct labels or classes (as in a bichromatic graph).
In the proof, a bichromatic graph separates points into red and blue classes.
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Last updated: 2025/08/11 15:41