'non-chromogenic' is formed from the negative prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non', meaning 'not') plus 'chromogenic' (from Greek 'chrōma' meaning 'color' + suffix from Greek '-genic'/'-genēs' meaning 'producing' or 'born of').

'chromogenic' comes from Greek elements 'chrōma' ('color') and a form related to 'genēs' ('producing/born of'); it entered scientific English as 'chromogenic' to mean 'producing color'. The compound 'non-chromogenic' was formed later by prefixing Latin 'non-' to negate that meaning in technical contexts (20th century scientific usage).

Initially, 'chromogenic' meant 'producing color'; 'non-chromogenic' has meant 'not producing color' since it was coined and has retained that negated, technical meaning.