Etymology: Cognate with West Frisian rym , rime , Middle Dutch riim , rijm , rīm (Dutch rijm ), Old Saxon hrīm , Old High German rīm (Middle High German rīm , German regional Reim ), Old Icelandic hrím (Icelandic hrím ), Norwegian rim , Old Swedish rim , riim (only in the compound rimfrost rime frost n.; Swedish rim ), Old Danish rim (only in the compound rimfrost rime frost n.; Danish rim ) < the same Germanic base as rine v.¹ Perhaps compare Lithuanian krėna ‘skin on cooked food, especially the skin on the top of heated milk’, Latvian krējums ‘cream’. Compare also Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French rime , rimee hoar frost (both early 12th cent.; < a Germanic language). Compare rime frost n. and also rind n.⁴The rh- spellings probably result from association with rhyme n.; perhaps compare also rheum n.¹

Etymology: Cognate with Old Saxon rīm (only in the compound unrīm huge number), Old High German rīm series, sequence, number, Old Icelandic rím calculation, calendar < the same Indo-European base as Early Irish rím act of counting, number, Welsh rhif number and (without the nasal suffix) classical Latin rītus (see rite n.), ultimately < an extended form of the Indo-European base of classical Latin ars art n.¹ Compare rhyme n.In Old English the prefixed form gerīm (compare y- prefix) is also attested.

Etymology: < classical Latin rīma (see rima n.). Compare later rima n.Earlier currency is perhaps shown by the second element of the Old English compound bord-rema , which is attested several times glossing Latin rima from a passage in Gregory the Great Dialogues (3. 36. 3); compare:eOE Leiden Gloss. (1906) 41/1 Rimis [itaque patentibus intrauit mare] : bordremum. However, the form of the word is difficult to explain phonologically as a borrowing of Latin rima , and is perhaps more likely to represent a form of rim n.¹, with the compound bord-rima having the sense ‘edge of a plank’ (see H. Michiels Über englische Bestandteile altdeutscher Glossenhandschriften (1912) 14–15, K. Thier Altenglische Terminologie f. Schiffe u. Schiffsteile (2002) 74).

Etymology: < rime n.²In Old English the prefixed form gerīman (compare y- prefix) is also attested; compare also arīman arime v.

Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian rēma , Middle Dutch rūmen , ruymen (Dutch ruimen ), Old Saxon rūmian (Middle Low German rǖmen , rūmen ), Old High German rūmen (Middle High German rūmen , German räumen ), Old Icelandic rýma , Norwegian rømme , Old Swedish ryma (Swedish rymma ), Old Danish rymæ , rymmæ (Danish rømme ) < the Germanic base of room n.¹ Compare rim v.² and also ream v.⁴With sense 3c compare earlier rimer n. In Old English the prefixed form gerȳman (compare y- prefix) is also attested, and survives into early Middle English.

Etymology: < rime n.¹ Compare West Frisian rime, Middle Dutch rīmen (Dutch rijmen), Icelandic hríma, Norwegian rime, Swedish rimma, Danish rime.Compare Old English behrīman to cover with rime ( < be- prefix + rime n.¹).

Etymology: < Irish ruaim alder tree, alder bark, a wool dye made of alder bark, dun colour, red colour (Early Irish rúam), of unknown origin. Compare (probably a derivative formation < the noun) Irish ruaimnigh to dye red (Early Irish rúamnaigid; compare earlier rúamnaid).Compare the following passage (from the same source as quot. 1873), which suggests an Irish verb *rúam or *rúaim as the primary etymon (although this is apparently not attested in the modern period, but compare Early Irish rúamaid):1873 E. O'Curry Lect. Anc. Irish III. xxiv. 119 The first part of the process..is called in Irish Ruamadh or Rimeing,..by steeping and boiling the wool with the twigs or brushwood of the alder tree, to which they give the name Ruaim or ‘Rime’.

Etymology: < classical Latin rīmārī to probe, search, scrutinize, explore < rīma fissure, cleft, chink (see rima n.). N.E.D. (1909) gives the pronunciation as (rəim) /raɪm/.