Chasm comes from Latin chasma, from Greek khasma ('yawning hollow, gulf'), related to khainein ('to gape, yawn') and ultimately to chaos. The historical trail runs through khasma in Ancient Greek and khainein in Ancient Greek. Used as a noun, chasm now means "a deep fissure or gulf in the earth, or a wide divergence", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as chasmal and chasmic and related forms such as chaos. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.