rime

C2+ Topic:Weather & Climate

US /ɹaɪm/ UK /ɹaɪm/ See IPA manual

noun verb Freq #75317

Meanings

1

noun
a white frost of ice crystals on a cold surface

The reeds were edged with rime after the freezing fog.
2

verb
to cover something with frost or ice crystals

The night mist rimed the windows by morning.
3

noun
an old or poetic spelling of rhyme

The ballad was written in rough rime.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a white frost of ice... hoarfrost frost ice

2 verb · to cover something with... frostice over

3 noun · an old or poetic spelling... rhyme verse

Word family

Forms rimy

Derived forms rimedrimerrimingrimy

Related forms rhyme ice

Etymology

From Middle English rim, rime ("hoar frost; rime"), from Old English hrīm ("frost"), from Proto-West Germanic *hrīm, from Proto-Germanic *hrīmą. The poetic spelling sense is an early variant of rhyme.

*krey- Proto-Indo-European rim Middle English hrīm Old English *hrīm Proto-West Germanic *hrīmą Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Weather & Climate

# rime

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** ɹaɪm
**IPA (UK):** ɹaɪm
**Frequency rank:** 75317

## Meanings
1. a white frost of ice crystals on a cold surface
2. to cover something with frost or ice crystals
3. an old or poetic spelling of rhyme

## Examples
- The reeds were edged with rime after the freezing fog.
- The night mist rimed the windows by morning.
- The ballad was written in rough rime.

## Synonyms
- hoarfrost
- frost
- rhyme
- verse

## Derived Forms
- rimed
- rimer
- riming
- rimy

## Related Forms
- rhyme
- ice

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *krey-
- Root: rim
- Root: hrīm
- Root: *hrīm
- Root: *hrīmą

## Etymology
From Middle English rim, rime ("hoar frost; rime"), from Old English hrīm ("frost"), from Proto-West Germanic *hrīm, from Proto-Germanic *hrīmą. The poetic spelling sense is an early variant of rhyme.

## AI Etymology
Rime comes from Middle English rim or rime, from Old English hrīm, meaning frost. Its main modern sense is the white crust of ice crystals formed by freezing fog or vapor. The adjective rimy is built from rime + -y, so it belongs under the rime word family rather than as a separate study headword. A separate literary spelling sense overlaps with rhyme, but the frost sense is the one that explains rimy. The historical path is straightforward Germanic inheritance: older forms already named frost, and Modern English preserves that concrete weather meaning.

## Topics
- Weather & Climate

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