Rhyme

Pronunciation

• UK enPR: rÄ«m, IPA: /ɹaɪm/
• Rhymes: -aɪm
• Homophones: rime

Alternative forms

• rime
• rhime obsolete

Origin

• The noun derives from Middle English ryme, rime ("number, rhyme, verse"), from Old English rÄ«m ("number, counting, reckoning, calendar, numeral, sum, aggregate, value, enumeration, series"), from Proto-Germanic *rÄ«mÄ… ("calculation, number"), from Proto-Indo-European *hâ‚‚rey- ("to regulate, count"). Cognate with Old Frisian rÄ«m ("number, amount, tale"), Old High German rÄ«m ("series, row, number"), Old Norse rím ("calculation, calendar"), Middle Low German rÄ«m ("rhyme"), Dutch rijm ("rhyme"), German Reim ("rhyme"), Swedish rim ("rhyme"), Icelandic rím ("rhyme"), Old Irish rÄ«m ("number"), Welsh rhif ("number"), Ancient Greek ἀριθμός (arithmós, "number"). Meaning influenced in Middle English by Old French rime ("rhyme"), from the same Germanic source.
• The verb derives from Middle English rymen, rimen, from Old English rÄ«man ("to count, count off, list, number, reckon, enumerate, recount, describe in succession, tell, calculate, compute, count up, account, esteem as"), from Proto-Germanic *rÄ«manÄ… ("to count"), from Proto-Indo-European *hâ‚‚rey- ("to regulate, count"). Cognate with Old High German rÄ«man ("to number, count, count up"), Dutch rijmen ("to rhyme").
• The spelling has been influenced by an incorrectly assumed relationship with rhythm.

Full definition of rhyme

Noun

1. (obsolete) Number.
2. (countable, uncountable) Rhyming verse (poetic form)Many editors say they don't want stories written in rhyme.
3. A thought expressed in verse; a verse; a poem; a tale told in verse.Tennyson’s rhymes
4. (countable) A word that rhymes with another.Norse poetry is littered with rhymes like "sól ... sunnan".Rap makes use of rhymes such as "money ... honey" and "nope ... dope".
1. (countable, in particular) A word that rhymes with another, in that it is pronounced identically with the other word from the vowel in its stressed syllable to the end."Awake" is a rhyme for "lake".
5. (uncountable) Rhyming: sameness of sound of part of some words.The poem exhibits a peculiar form of rhyme.
6. (countable, uncountable) Rhyming verse (poetic form).
7. (linguistics) rime

Hyponyms

• stave-rhyme, end rhyme
• internal rhyme, cross rhyme
• half rhyme, near rhyme:
• pararhyme, slant rhyme
• full rhyme, perfect rhyme, exact rhyme, true rhyme

Derived terms

Verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To number; count; reckon.
2. (ambitransitive) To compose or treat in verse; versify.
• 1742, Alexander Pope, The Dunciad, book 4, lines 101-102:There marched the bard and blockhead, side by side,Who rhymed for hire, and patronized for pride.
3. (transitive, followed by with) Of a word, to be pronounced identically with another from the vowel in its stressed syllable to the end."Creation" rhymes with "integration" and "station".
4. (reciprocal) Of two or more words, to be pronounced identically from the vowel in the stressed syllable of each to the end of each."Mug" and "rug" rhyme."India" and "windier" rhyme with each other in non-rhotic accents.
5. (transitive) To put words together so that they rhyme.I rewrote it to make it rhyme.

Derived terms