Etymology of Rhyming

 

The word derives from Old French rime or ryme, which might be derived from Old Frankish rīm, a Germanic term meaning "series, sequence" attested in Old English (Old English rīm meaning "enumeration, series, numeral") and Old High German rīm, ultimately cognate to Old Irish rím, Greekἀριθμός arithmos "number". Alternatively, the Old French words may derive from Latinrhythmus, from Greek ῥυθμός (rhythmos, rhythm).

The spelling rhyme (from original rime) was introduced at the beginning of the Modern English period from a learned (but perhaps etymologically incorrect) association with Latin rhythmus. The older spelling rimesurvives in Modern English as a rare alternative spelling; cf. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. A distinction between the spellings is also sometimes made in the study of linguistics and phonology for which rime/rhyme is used to refer to the nucleus and coda of a syllable. Some prefer to spell it rimeto separate it from the poetic rhyme covered by this article (see syllable rime).