What does polychromatism mean?
Polychromatism is the quality of displaying several colours, most famously in gemstones whose visible colour changes with the angle of observation or the conditions of illumination. Opal is the classic example: its surface may appear green, blue, red, or yellow as light moves across its internal silica structure. The term can also describe the deliberate use of varied colours in painting and other visual art. Unlike the general adjective multicoloured, polychromatism tends to imply either a conspicuous change between colours or a rich succession of distinct hues. In scientific and lapidary contexts, it is valued as a descriptive property rather than a decorative label. The word is less common than polychromatic but provides a concise noun for the phenomenon of varied or shifting coloration.
nounThe quality of displaying multiple colours, especially the apparent change of colour in a gemstone when viewed from different angles or under changing light. In art, it can also refer to the use of many different colours.
- The property of appearing in multiple colours, especially as the apparent colour of a gemstone changes with lighting or viewing angle.
- The use of numerous colours in visual art, or the general quality of varied coloration.
"The opal's remarkable polychromatism transforms its surface into shifting shades of green, blue, and red."
"The jeweller praised the stone for its vivid polychromatism under different sources of light."
"The painting's polychromatism gives the crowded market scene a lively and expressive character."
The plural is grammatically regular but rarely needed because polychromatism is normally used as an uncountable property or mass noun.
"The collection displays the polychromatisms of several exceptional gemstones."
An opal's shifting colours arise from the way light interacts with its microscopic silica structure, making natural polychromatism a spectacular optical illusion.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does polychromatism come from?
Polychromatism combines the Greek elements polus, meaning “many,” and chrōma, meaning “colour,” with the English suffix -ism. Its development is closely associated with polychromatic, from the same Greek roots, and with polychrome, an earlier English borrowing from the Latin polychromus. Related terms include chromatic and dichromatic, which likewise derive from Greek chrōma.
Related word forms
How polychromatism is actually used
In modern usage, polychromatism is most often associated with gemstones, especially opal. It is a technical or descriptive term rather than everyday vocabulary, although art criticism also uses it for richly varied colour.
Easily confused with polychromatism
Polychromatism specifically concerns variation or change in colour, whereas polymorphism is the appearance of different forms within a species or the ability of a material to take multiple forms.
Polychromatism describes the display of different colours, while iridescence more specifically describes the changing colours produced by interference in a thin surface film.