The Spanish word 'quiromancia' (meaning 'palm reading' or 'palmistry') comes from Medieval Latin 'chiromantia', which in turn was borrowed from Ancient Greek 'kheiromanteia' (χειρομαντεία). The Greek word was a compound of two elements: 'kheir' (χείρ) meaning 'hand' and 'manteia' (μαντεία) meaning 'divination' or 'prophecy'. So literally, it means 'divination through hands'.

The change from Greek 'kh' to Latin 'ch' to Spanish 'qu' follows a common pattern of sound changes between these languages, while maintaining essentially the same meaning of fortune-telling through palm reading.

A related Spanish word is 'quiro-', which appears as a prefix in medical terms related to the hand, such as 'quirófano' (operating room) and 'quirúrgico' (surgical). These words share the same Greek root 'kheir' (hand).

English speakers might recognize this word's connection to 'chiromancy', which means the same thing as 'quiromancia'. The English word preserves the 'ch-' spelling from Latin. Other related English words include 'chiropractic' (literally 'hand practice') and 'chirography' (handwriting), which all contain the same Greek root 'kheir' meaning 'hand'.