Chalco-

//ˈkælkoʊ// prefix

prefix ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Prefix
  1. 1
    Copper; relatedly, also bronze or brass. morpheme
  2. 2
    Ore. morpheme

Etymology

From New Latin, from Ancient Greek χαλκός (khalkós, “copper”). Despite the appearance in English of a possible relation of chalco- to chalk, and any plausible semantic and cognate connections between limestones and ores in ancient times, the terms are not related by any known cognation. Note also the hard ch sound (/k/) in chalco- and words generated therefrom, which differs from the soft ch sound in chalk.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.