Chronoscope

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkɹɒnəˌskəʊp/

Definitions

1. An instrument designed to measure brief durations and facilitate the observation of fleeting events while enabling the accurate timing of rapid actions or phenomena
2. A tool used to record and measure very brief periods of time, often in experiments involving rapid occurrences
3. An apparatus that precisely tracks small time spans to help observe events that happen quickly

Etymology: The "chrono-" in chronoscope is the Greek "khrónos," meaning time, and "-scope" comes from Greek "skopós," a watcher or one who looks out, from the verb "skopéō," to look at or examine. Put together, the name describes an instrument for looking at time, and the instrument it names was built to measure very short spans of it. The name was assembled in English from these two Greek elements, a technical coinage rather than a word that travelled through centuries of use. Its "-scope" element links it to a large family of English instrument names, such as "telescope" and "microscope," which were built the same way from Greek roots. The pattern made it easy to coin a name for any new device that let people see something otherwise beyond reach, and "chronoscope" follows that pattern for measuring time.

Synonyms: time-measuring device