Chronical

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. An older term for a chronicle, meaning a historical account that lists events in the order they happened
2. A record of past occurrences arranged by time, often kept as a narrative history of a people, reign or period
3. A dated, sequential account of happenings, traditionally written as a history of a town, nation or family

Etymology: "Chronical" is an adjective meaning "relating to time" or, in older usage, "chronic" in the sense of lasting a long time. It comes from the Greek "khronikos," an adjective formed from "khronos," meaning "time." The Greek root also gave English "chronicle," "chronology," and "chronometer," all of which share the idea of marking or recording time. The adjective is essentially a variant of "chronic," which reached English from French and Latin and developed the sense of persisting over a long period, as in a chronic illness. "Chronical" follows the same path, but it has remained a rare and largely obsolete form, so most readers will meet it only in older texts or in discussions of word forms.