Etymology

chime

C3H4I1M3E1

Today it means: A musical instrument producing a sound when struck, similar to a bell (e.g. a tubular metal bar) or actually a bell. Often used in the plural to refer to the set: the chimes. Full definition →

Middle English chymbe ← Old Northern French chimbe ← Latin cymbalum
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromcymbalum
  2. Old Northern French · derived fromchimbe“cymbal”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromchymbe
  4. English todaychime

From Middle English chymbe, chyme, probably from Old Northern French chimbe (“cymbal”), a back-formation from chimble, cimble, from Latin cymbalum; perhaps reinforced by a misinterpretation of a Middle English *chymbele (from Old English ċimbala, ċimbal (“cymbal”)) as chymbe belle.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishchymbe all →

chimb

Latincymbalum all →

cymbal

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.