Etymology
1. "agreement in terminal sounds," 1565, partially restored spelling, from M.E.
ryme, rime (c.1200) "measure, meter, rhythm," later "rhymed verse," from O.Fr.
rime (fem.), related to O.Prov.
rim (masc.), earlier
*ritme, from L.
rithmus, from Gk.
rhythmos "measured motion, time, proportion" (see rhythm).
"In MedL. rithmus was used of accentual, as opposed to quantitative, verse, and, as accentual verse was usually rhymed, the word acquired the meaning which it has in all the Rom[anic]. and Teut[onic] langs." [Weekley]
Persistence of older form is due to popular association with O.E.
rim "number," from PIE base
*re(i)- "to reason, count." The verb is first attested 1672 (of words), "to have the same end sound;" 1697 (of poets), "to make rhymes." Phrase
rhyme or reason "good sense" (chiefly used in the negative) is from 1664.
Rhyme royal (1841) is a stanza of seven 10-syllable lines rhymed a-b-a-b-b-c-c.
2. From Middle English rimen, rymen, rim, rime (“to recite or write verse; to sing songs; to tell a story in verse; to fit into verse; (figurative) to agree, make sense”), from Anglo-Norman rimer, Middle French rimer, and Old French rimer (“to rhyme (a word) with another word; to write verse”) (modern French rimer), Old French rime, ryme (noun): see etymology 1.
3. Cognates
4. * Catalan rimar
5. * Icelandic ríma
6. * Italian rimar
7. * Middle Dutch rīmen (modern Dutch rijmen)
8. * Middle High German rīmen (modern German reimen)
9. * Middle Low German rīmen
10. * Old Danish rime (modern Danish rime)
11. * Old Occitan rimar (“to rhyme (a word) with another word; to write verse”)
12. * Old Swedish rima (modern Swedish rima)
13. * Portuguese rimar
14. * Spanish rimar See: Middle English '
rimen', Anglo-Norman '
rimer', Old French '
rimer', French '
rimer', Valencian '
rimar', Icelandic '
ríma', Dutch '
rijmen', Middle High German '
rīmen', German, old spelling '
reimen', Danish '
rime', Old Occitan '
rimar', Swedish '
rima', Portuguese '
rimar', Spanish '
rimar'.