A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, exactly the same sound) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for artistic effect in the final position of lines within poems or songs.[1] More broadly, a rhyme may also variously refer to other types of similar sounds near the ends of two or more words. Furthermore, the word rhyme has come to be sometimes used as a shorthand term for any brief poem, such as a nursery rhyme or Balliol rhyme.


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, Greek ἀριθμός arithmos "number". Alternatively, the Old French words may derive from Latin rhythmus, from Greek ῥυθμός (rhythmos, rhythm).[2][3]

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.[2] The older spelling rime survives 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 rime to separate it from the poetic rhyme covered by this article (see syllable rime).

Function of rhyming words


Types of rhyme


Perfect rhymes

Perfect rhymes can be classified by the location of the final stressed syllable.

  • single, also known as masculine: a rhyme in which the stress is on the final syllable of the words (rhyme, sublime)
  • double, also known as feminine: a rhyme in which the stress is on the penultimate (second from last) syllable of the words (picky, tricky)
  • dactylic: a rhyme in which the stress is on the antepenultimate (third from last) syllable (amorous, glamorous)

Feminine and dactylic rhymes may also be realized as compound (or mosaic) rhymes (poet, know it).

General rhymes


  • syllabic: a rhyme in which the last syllable of each word sounds the same but does not necessarily contain stressed vowels. (cleaver, silver, or pitter, patter; the final syllable of the words bottle and fiddle is /l/, a liquid consonant.)
  • consonance: matching consonants. (rabies, robbers)
  • half rhyme (or slant rhyme): matching final consonants. (hand , lend)
  • pararhyme: all consonants match. (tick, tock)

Identical rhymes



If the sound preceding the stressed vowel is also identical, the rhyme is sometimes considered to be inferior and not a perfect rhyme after all.[4][5] An example of such a super-rhyme or "more than perfect rhyme" is the identical rhyme, in which not only the vowels but also the onsets of the rhyming syllables are identical, as in gun and begun. Punning rhymes, such as bare and bear are also identical rhymes. The rhyme may extend even farther back than the last stressed vowel. If it extends all the way to the beginning of the line, so that there are two lines that sound very similar or identical, it is called a holorhyme ("For I scream/For ice cream").

In poetics these would be considered identity, rather than rhyme.

Eye rhyme

Eye rhymes or sight rhymes or spelling rhymes refer to similarity in spelling but not in sound where the final sounds are spelled identically but pronounced differently.[6] Examples in English are cough, bough, and love, move.


Mind rhyme


Classification by position

Rhymes may be classified according to their position in the verse:





The earliest surviving evidence of rhyming is the Chinese Shi Jing (ca. 10th century BCE). Rhyme is also occasionally used in the Bible.[7] Classical Greek and Latin poetry did not usually rhyme,[8] but rhyme was used very occasionally. For instance, Catullus includes partial rhymes in the poem Cui dono lepidum novum libellum.[9] The ancient Greeks knew rhyme, and rhymes in The Wasps by Aristophanes are noted by a translator.[10]

Rhyme is central to classical Arabic poetry tracing back to its 6th century pre-Islamic roots. According to some archaic sources, Irish literature introduced the rhyme to Early Medieval Europe, but that is a disputed claim.[11] In the 7th century, the Irish had brought the art of rhyming verses to a high pitch of perfection. The leonine verse is notable for introducing rhyme into High Medieval literature in the 12th century.

Rhyme entered European poetry in the High Middle Ages, in part under the influence of the Arabic language in Al Andalus (modern Spain).[12] Arabic language poets used rhyme extensively from the first development of literary Arabic in the sixth century, as in their long, rhyming qasidas.[13]

Since dialects vary and languages change over time, lines that rhyme in a given register or era may not rhyme in another, and it may not be clear whether one should pronounce the words so that they rhyme. An example is this couplet from Handel's Judas Maccabaeus:

Rejoice, O Judah, and in songs divine
With cherubim and seraphim harmonious join.[14]

Rhyme in various languages


Rhymes were widely spread in the Arabian peninsula around the 6th century, in letters, poems and songs, as well as long, rhyming qasidas.[13] In addition, the Quran uses a form of rhymed prose named saj'.

Celtic languages


Is a Bhríd Óg Ní Mháille
[is ə vrʲiːdʲ oːɡ nʲiː wɒːlʲə]
'S tú d'fhág mo chroí cráite
[stuː dɒːɡ mə xriː krɒːtʲə]

Oh young Bridget O'Malley

You have left my heart breaking









Some words in English, such as "orange" and "silver", are commonly regarded as having no rhyme. Although a clever writer can get around this (for example, by obliquely rhyming "orange" with combinations of words like "door hinge" or with lesser-known words like "Blorenge" – a hill in Wales – or the surname Gorringe), it is generally easier to move the word out of rhyming position or replace it with a synonym ("orange" could become "amber", while "silver" could become a combination of "bright and argent"). A skilled orator might be able to tweak the pronunciation of certain words to facilitate a stronger rhyme (for example, pronouncing 'orange' as 'oringe' to rhyme with 'door hinge')





Forced or clumsy rhyme is often a key ingredient of doggerel.


In French poetry, unlike in English, it is common to have identical rhymes, in which not only the vowels of the final syllables of the lines rhyme, but their onset consonants ("consonnes d'appui") as well. To the ear of someone accustomed to English verse, this often sounds like a very weak rhyme. For example, an English perfect rhyme of homophones, flour and flower, would seem weak, whereas a French rhyme of homophones doigt ("finger") and doit ("must") or point ("point") and point ("not") is not only acceptable but quite common.



Gall, amant de la Reine, alla (tour magnanime)
Galamment de l'Arène à la Tour Magne, à Nîmes.

Gallus, the Queen's lover, went (a magnanimous gesture)
Gallantly from the Arena to the Great Tower, at Nîmes.




The now-silent final consonants present a more complex case. They, too, were traditionally an integral part of the rhyme, such that "pont" rhymed with "vont" but not with "long"; but spelling and pronunciation did not coincide exactly—"pont" also rhymed with "rond". There are a few rules that govern most word-final consonants in archaic French pronunciation:

  • The distinction between voiced and unvoiced consonants is lost in the final position. Therefore, "d" and "t" (both pronounced /t/) rhyme. So too with "c", "g" and "q" (all /k/), "b" and "p" (both /p/), and "s", "x" and "z" (all /z/). Rhymes ending in /z/ are called "plural rhymes" because most plural nouns and adjectives end in "s" or "x".
  • Nasal vowels rhyme whether spelled with "m" or "n" (e.g. "essaim" rhymes with "sain" but not with "saint").
  • If a word ends in a stop followed by "s", the stop is silent and ignored for purposes of rhyming (e.g. "temps" rhymes with "dents"). In the archaic orthography some of these silent stops are omitted from the spelling as well (e.g. "dens" for "dents").


Because German phonology features a wide array of vowel sounds, certain imperfect rhymes are widely admitted in German poetry. These include rhyming "e" with "ä" and "ö", rhyming "i" with "ü", rhyming "ei" with "eu" (spelled "äu" in some words) and rhyming a long vowel with its short counterpart.

Some examples of imperfect rhymes (all from Friedrich Schiller's "An die Freude"):

  • Deine Zauber binden wieder / Alle Menschen werden Brüder
  • Freude trinken alle Wesen / Alle Guten, alle Bösen
  • Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod; / und der Cherub steht vor Gott.


See Homoioteleuton

Ancient Greek poetry is strictly metrical. Rhyme is used, if at all, only as an occasional rhetorical flourish.

The first Greek to write rhyming poetry was the fourteenth-century Cretan Stephanos Sachlikis. Rhyme is now a common fixture of Greek poetry.


Ancient Hebrew rarely employed rhyme, e.g. in Exodus 29 35: ועשית לאהרן ולבניו כָּכה, ככל אשר צויתי אֹתָכה (the identical part in both rhyming words being / 'axa/ ). Rhyme became a permanent - even obligatory - feature of poetry in Hebrew language, around the 4th century CE. It is found in the Jewish liturgical poetry written in the Byzantine empire era. This was realized by scholars only recently, thanks to the thousands of piyyuts that have been discovered in the Cairo Geniza. It is assumed that the principle of rhyme was transferred from Hebrew liturgical poetry to the poetry of the Syriac Christianity (written in Aramaic), and through this mediation introduced into Latin poetry and then into all other languages of Europe.[16]




O Fortunatam natam me consule Romam.

O fortunate Rome, to be born with me consul


Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sybilla

The day of wrath, that day
which will reduce the world to ashes,
as foretold by David and the Sybil.



In Polish literature rhyme was used from the beginning. Unrhymed verse was never popular, although it was sometimes imitated from Latin. Homer's, Virgil's and even Milton's epic poems were furnished with rhymes by Polish translators.[17] Because of paroxytonic accentuation in Polish, feminine rhymes always prevailed. Rules of Polish rhyme were established in 16th century. Then only feminine rhymes were allowed in syllabic verse system. Together with introducing syllabo-accentual metres, masculine rhymes began to occur in Polish poetry. They were most popular at the end of 19th century. The most frequent rhyme scheme in Old Polish (16th - 18th centuries) was couplet AABBCCDD..., but Polish poets, having perfect knowledge of Italian language and literature, experimented with other schemes, among others ottava rima (ABABABCC) and sonnet (ABBA ABBA CDC DCD or ABBA ABBA CDCD EE).

Wpłynąłem na suchego przestwór oceanu,
Wóz nurza się w zieloność i jak łódka brodzi,
Śród fali łąk szumiących, śród kwiatów powodzi,
Omijam koralowe ostrowy burzanu.

Across sea-meadows measureless I go,
My wagon sinking under grass so tall
The flowery petals in foam on me fall,

—Adam Mickiewicz,
"Stepy akermańskie", Sonety krymskie, lines 1-4
—"The Ackerman Steppe", Sonnets from the Crimea,
translated by Edna Worthley Underwood



Portuguese classifies rhymes in the following manner:

  • rima esdrúxula (odd rhyme): rhyme between proparoxytonic words (example: ânimo, "animus", and unânimo, "unanimous").


Rhyme was introduced into Russian poetry in the 18th century. Folk poetry had generally been unrhymed, relying more on dactylic line endings for effect. Two words ending in an accented vowel are only considered to rhyme if they share a preceding consonant. Vowel pairs rhyme—even though non-Russian speakers may not perceive them as the same sound. Consonant pairs rhyme if both are devoiced. As in French, formal poetry traditionally alternates between masculine and feminine rhymes.





Spanish mainly differentiates two types of rhymes:

  • rima consonante (consonant rhyme): Those words of the same stress with identical endings, matching consonants and vowels, for example robo (robbery) and lobo (wolf), legua (league) and yegua (mare) or canción (song) and montón (pile).
  • rima asonante (assonant rhyme): those words of the same stress that only the vowels identical at the end, for example zapato (shoe) and brazo (arm), ave (bird) and ame (would love), reloj (watch) and feroz (fierce), puerta (door) and ruleta (roulette).

Spanish rhyme is also classified by stress type since different types cannot rhyme with each other:

  • rima llana (plane rhyme): the rhyming words are unaccented, for example cama (bed) and rama (branch), pereza (lazyness) and moneda (coin) or espejo (mirror) and pienso (I think).
  • rima grave (paroxytone rhyme): The rhyming words are accented on the last syllable, for example: cartón (cardboard) and limón (lemon), jerez (sherry) and revés (backwards). Grave words that end in a single same vowel can be asonante rhymes for example compró (he/she bought) and llevó (he/she carried), tendré (I will have) and pediré (I will ask), perdí (I lost) and medí (I measured).
  • rima esdrújula (odd rhyme): The rhyming words are accented on the antepenult. For example mácula (stain) and báscula (scale), estrépito (noise) and intrépido (fearless), rápido (fast) and pálido (pallid).






Rhymes are used in Vietnamese to produce similes. The following is an example of a Rhyming Simile:

Nghèo như con mèo
/ŋɛu ɲɯ kɔn mɛu/
"Poor as a cat"

Compare the above Vietnamese example, which is a rhyming simile, to the English phrase "(as) poor as a church mouse", which is only a semantic simile.[20]

See also

  • Alliteration
  • Assonance
  • Glossary of poetry terms
  • An Introduction to Rhyme
  • List of English words without rhymes
  • Consonance
  • Multisyllabic rhymes
  • Rhyme in rap
  • Rhyming recipe
  • Rhyming slang (e.g. Cockney rhyming slang)
  • Rhyming spiritual
  • Rime table - syllable chart of the Chinese language
  • Traditional rhyme


  1. "Rhyme". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. 2013.
  5. "Rhyming and Songwriting". michael-thomas.com. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  7. "Old Testament survey: the message, form, and background of the Old Testament pg. 236"
  9. "Bernard of Morlaix - METRE AND RHYME". prosentient.com.au. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  11. "Article about early Irish literature by Prof. Douglas Hyde in The Catholic Encyclopedia"
  16. See: Benjamin Harshav (Hrushovski)'s article on Hebrew Prosody in the Encyclopedia Judaica
  18. Adam Mickiewicz's Sonnets from the Crimea at Sonnet Central
  20. See p. 98 in Thuy Nga Nguyen and Ghil'ad Zuckermann (2012), "Stupid as a Coin: Meaning and Rhyming Similes in Vietnamese", International Journal of Language Studies 6 (4), pp. 97-118.