dichromatic
|di-chro-mat-ic|
🇺🇸
/ˌdaɪkroʊˈmætɪk/
🇬🇧
/ˌdaɪkrəʊˈmætɪk/
involving two colors/components
Etymology
'dichromatic' originates from Greek, specifically the combining forms 'di-' meaning 'two' and 'chrōma' meaning 'color', adopted into English as a scientific formation.
'dichromatic' was formed in early 19th-century scientific English from Greek elements (via scientific Latin/French influence) and became the modern English adjective 'dichromatic'.
Initially, it meant 'having two colors', and later it broadened to include the sense of 'relating to two-cone color vision' in physiology and to optical behavior in minerals.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
having two colors; composed of two distinct colors.
The flag features a simple dichromatic scheme of blue and white.
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Adjective 2
of vision: based on two types of cone receptors; lacking one of the normal three (a form of color vision deficiency).
People with protanopia are dichromatic and struggle to perceive red properly.
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Adjective 3
in optics/mineralogy: exhibiting two different colors under varying viewing or polarization conditions (due to dichroism).
Under polarized light the crystal appears distinctly dichromatic.
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Last updated: 2025/08/11 15:59