chromatic
adj.adj. relating to the colors of light or the way colors appear in nature. In music, it describes a scale that includes all the notes between each half step.
adj. relating to the spectrum of colors or the perception of color; in a musical context, referring to a scale that includes all twelve notes of the octave.
The butterfly has beautiful chromatic wings.
The artist used a chromatic scale to create a sense of tension and movement in the melody.
The chromatic aberration in the lens caused a slight blurring of the edges, making the image appear less sharp than the photographer intended.
Borrowed from French chromatique (“chromatic”) or directly from its etymon Latin chrōmaticus, from Ancient Greek χρωματικός (khrōmatikós, “relating to colour; one of the three types of tetrachord in Greek music”), from χρῶμα (khrôma, “colour; pigment; chromatic scale in music; music”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to grind; to rub; to stroke; to remove”), perhaps in the sense of the grinding of pigments) + -τῐκός (-tĭkós, suffix forming adjectives); analysable as chroma + -tic.
From chromatin + -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives from nouns).