Etymology

rhythm

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Today it means: The variation of strong and weak elements (such as duration, accent) of sounds, notably in speech or music, over time; a beat or meter. Full definition →

Latin rhythmus ← Ancient Greek ῥῠθμός (rhŭthmós) ← Proto-Hellenic *hrutʰmós
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ser-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*srew-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*sru-dʰ-mo-s
  4. Proto-Hellenic*hrutʰmós
  5. Ancient Greekῥῠθμός (rhŭthmós)
  6. Latinrhythmus
  7. English todayrhythm

First coined in 1557, from Latin rhythmus, from Ancient Greek ῥυθμός (rhuthmós, “any measured flow or movement, symmetry, rhythm”), from ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow, run, stream, gush”).

Words from the same roots

Latinrhythmus all →

rhyme

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.