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Abstract Spinel compounds are of great interest in both fundamental and application-oriented perspectives due to the geometric magnetic frustration inherent to their lattice and the resulting complex magnetic states. Here, we applied x-ray diffraction, magnetization, heat capacity and powder inelastic neutron scattering measurements, along with theoretical calculations, to study the exotic properties of chromite-spinel oxides CoCr₂O₄and MnCr₂O₄. The temperature dependence of the phonon spectra provides an insight into the correlation between oxygen motion and the magnetic order, as well as the magnetoelectric effect in the ground state of MnCr₂O₄. Moreover, spin-wave excitations in CoCr₂O₄and MnCr₂O₄are compared with Heisenberg model calculations. This approach enables the precise determination of exchange energies and offers a comprehensive understanding of the spin dynamics and relevant exchange interactions in complicated spiral spin ordering.