Rhyme
/raɪm/noun
A correspondence of sounds, especially at the ends of words in poetry.
Did you know?English rhyme was long confused with Greek rhythmós, but the word actually comes through Old French from a Germanic root tied to counting and sequence, which is why rhyme feels like a pattern you can almost hear as a kind of verbal magic.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*reie-
“to count, number, order”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*rīmą
“number, series, count”
Old English
OE
rīm
“number, count, series”
Old French
OF
rime
“verse, poetic rhythm”
Middle English
ME
rime
“rhyming verse; correspondence of sounds at line endings”
Modern English
English
rhyme
“correspondence of sounds, especially at the ends of words in poetry”