Abstract‘Chordal multipartite graphs’ are properly colored graphs such that two vertices in a minimal vertex separator are adjacent if and only if they are differently colored. They have induced cycle characterizations that transcend those of chordal and chordal bipartite graphs. Graphs that have such ‘chordal colorings’ are weakly chordal graphs with simple forbidden subgraph characterizations, and such a chordal coloring of a graph G requires only χ(G) colors.