Chromotherapy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A method of healing that uses different colors or colored lights to improve physical or emotional well-being
2. A therapeutic approach involving exposure to specific hues or light colors to promote health and balance
3. The practice of applying various colors of light or visual color exposure as a way to support recovery and wellness

Etymology: Chromotherapy is a compound built from two Greek ancestors, one of them a word for skin colour before it meant colour at all. The first part, "chromo-", comes from Ancient Greek "khrôma", which meant colour, surface or complexion; the Greek root behind it is far older than the English word. The second part traces to "therapeia", the Greek noun for attendance or care, from "therapeuō", to serve or minister to, and from "therapōn", an attendant or servant. Greek writers used the root for tending to a person's body, and it passed into Latin and then into English as "therapy". The English compound itself is modern. Its two halves were simply joined, as scientists and writers often did with classical roots, so it describes treatment with colour in the same way "therapy" describes treatment in general. Nothing in its history links it to ancient Greek healing practice, which used colour in other ways.

Synonyms: color therapy, light therapy