Etymograph

English

chaos

Chaos comes from Ancient Greek χάος ‘vast chasm, void’.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEχάος1kháos‘vast chasm’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1621chaos1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English chaos
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1621, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, Aire rectified. With a digression of the Aire.: “What is in the centre of the earth, or…”.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEχάοςWiktionary, English chaoskháos‘vast chasm’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1621chaosWiktionary, English chaos. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1621, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, Aire rectified. With a digression of the Aire.: “What is in the centre of the earth, or…”

The story

The technical sense in mathematics and science dates from the 1960s.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

pairs

  • chaos and gas both from Ancient Greek χάος ‘chasm’

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- ‘to yawn, gape’

goal, gap, gum, gill, hiatus, gab, gape, 10 more

through Ancient Greek χάος ‘vast chasm, void’

chaotic, 2 more

Today it means

noun The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “chaos”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek χάος / chaos

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