| 1 | French | chiasme | chiasmus |
| 2 | Latin | chiasmus | — |
| 3 | Ancient Greek | χιασμός | marked with an X; crosswise arrangement |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | χιάζειν | to mark with a chi; to mark with the letter chi |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | Χ | Chi; chi |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | Χριστός | anointed; messiah; annointed, the annointed one,... |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | χρίω | to smear with , rub on something; to anoint with... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | gʰrēy- | to smear; to paint, streak, smear |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | gʰer- | to rub; to stroke; to grind |