Etymograph

English

cron

Cron comes from Ancient Greek χρόνος ‘time’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- ‘to seize, enclose’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰer-1‘to seize, enclose’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰr-ono-1uncertain
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEχρόνος2khrónos‘time’
  4. Englishtodaycron2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek χρόνος
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English cron

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰer-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek χρόνος‘to seize, enclose’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰr-ono-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek χρόνοςuncertain
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEχρόνοςWiktionary, English cronkhrónos‘time’
  4. EnglishtodaycronWiktionary, English cron

The story

Originating as the name of a specific program, but since generalized to analogous ones.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- ‘to seize, enclose’

girl, card, chart, rocket, chorus, cartoon, cartel, cartridge, carte, carton, urchin, cartography, germanium, cartouche, 33 more

through Proto-Indo-European *gʰr-ono-

chronicle, 6 more

through Ancient Greek χρόνος ‘time’

chronic, synchronous, synchronize, 9 more

Today it means

noun A scheduler or timer that automatically starts a job, program, task.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cron”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek χρόνος. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- / cron

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