Various oxidic solids with chromium(IV) in tetrahedral sites have been synthesized, predominantly without impurities of chromium in other oxidation states, and spectroscopically investigated. The d-d spectra show the typical features of a d(2) cation in distorted tetrahedral coordination and could be fitted by utilizing AOM calculations on the basis of the geometry of the host tetrahedra with the parameter set Delta similar or equal to 9650 cm(-1), B-et similar or equal to 480 cm(-1) (beta(et) similar or equal to 0.47), C/B = 4.2. The EPR spectra usually exhibit only one exchange-averaged signal; the fine structure is only occasionally resolved.