chronometer

English

Alternative forms

• chronometre (nonstandard)

Etymology

From chrono- +‎ -meter, possibly after the model of earlier French chronomètre (“metronome”), ultimately from Ancient Greek χρόνος (khrónos, “time”) + μέτρον (métron, “meter, measuring device”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɹəˈnɒm.ə.tə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kɹəˈnɑ.mə.tɚ/, [kɹəˈnɑ.mə.ɾɚ]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /kɹəˈnɔm.ə.tə(ɹ)/

Noun

chronometer (plural chronometers)

1. A device for measuring time, particularly a precision mechanism for measuring time of day.

   A wristwatch costs $20. A chronometer costs $20,000.

   • 1825, “Transactions of the Society Instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce”, in Royal Society of Arts, Great Britain:

     The balances of all moveable time-keepers, the chronometer excepted, are prevented from vibrating beyond the proper arc by what is called bankings. The inferior escapements are very easily banked; a pin fixed in the balance, coming in contact with one or two studs, is sufficient for that purpose. […]

   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “chapter 4”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     The stock-in-trade of this old gentleman comprised chronometers, barometers, telescopes, compasses, charts, maps, sextants, quadrants, and specimens of every kind of instrument used in the working of a ship's course, or the keeping of a ship's reckoning, or the prosecuting of a ship's discoveries.

   • 1878 March 30, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic. Lecture Delivered at the Old South Church, March 30, 1878, Boston, Mass.: Houghton, Osgood and Company […], published 1878, →OCLC, page 1:

     The sailors sail by chronometers that do not lose two or three seconds in a year, ever since [Isaac] Newton explained to Parliament that the way to improve navigation was to get good watches, and to offer public premiums for a better time-keeper than any then in use.

Synonyms

• timepiece (some uses)

Hyponyms

• clock, timepiece (some uses), watch, pocket watch; stopwatch, chronograph; chronoscope; sundial; hourglass; water clock, clepsydra; horologium, horologe (archaic)

Coordinate terms

• horology, chronometry (study of time); horologist, horologer (manufacturer)

Derived terms

• biochronometer
• cosmochronometer
• geochronometer
• marine chronometer
• microchronometer
• micronometer
• pantochronometer

 

Translations

device for measuring time, particularly time of day

• Armenian: ժամանակաչափ (hy) (žamanakačʻapʻ)
• Belarusian: храно́метр m (xranómjetr), храно́мэтр m (xranómetr), храно́мэтар m (xranómetar)
• Bulgarian: часовник (bg) m (časovnik), хронометър m (hronometǎr)
• Catalan: cronòmetre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 時計／时计 (zh) (shíjì), 計時器／计时器 (zh) (jìshíqì)

• Czech: chronometr m
• Esperanto: kronometro
• Finnish: kronometri (fi), kello (fi)
• French: chronomètre (fr) m, chronoscope (fr) m
• Galician: cronómetro m
• German: Chronometer (de) m, Uhr (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὡρολόγιον n (hōrológion) (Koine), ὠράριθμον n (ōrárithmon)

• Hungarian: időmérő (hu), óra (hu)
• Irish: cronaiméadar m
• Italian: cronometro (it) m
• Japanese: クロノメーター (kuronomētā)
• Korean: 크로노미터 (ko) (keuronomiteo)
• Latin: horologium (la) n
• Maori: matawā
• Persian: کرنومتر (koronometr), گاه‌سنج (gâh-sanj)
• Polish: chronometr (pl) m, czasomierz (pl) m
• Portuguese: cronómetro (pt) m (Portugal), cronômetro (pt) m (Brazil), cronoscópio (pt) m
• Russian: хроно́метр (ru) m (xronómetr), хроноско́п (ru) m (xronoskóp)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кро̏нометар m

  Roman: krȍnometar (sh) m

• Slovene: chronometer m
• Spanish: cronómetro (es) m
• Tagalog: tionsukat
• Turkish: saat (tr)
• Ukrainian: хроно́метр m (xronómetr)

References

• “chronometer”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• Wolfgang Köberer, "On the First Use of the Term 'Chronometer'", The Mariner's Mirror, Vol. 106, No. 2, 2016, pp. 203–06

Anagrams

• chronometre