rhythm

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪð.əm/, [ˈɹɪð.m̩]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɪðəm
• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪθ.əm/

Noun

rhythm (countable and uncountable, plural rhythms)

1. The variation of strong and weak elements (such as duration, accent) of sounds, notably in speech or music, over time; a beat or meter.

   Dance to the rhythm of the music.

2. A specifically defined pattern of such variation.

   Most dances have a rhythm as distinctive as the Iambic verse in poetry

3. A flow, repetition or regularity.

   Once you get the rhythm of it, the job will become easy.

4. The tempo or speed of a beat, song or repetitive event.

   We walked with a quick, even rhythm.

5. The musical instruments which provide rhythm (mainly; not or less melody) in a musical ensemble.

   The Baroque term basso continuo is virtually equivalent to rhythm

6. A regular quantitative change in a variable (notably natural) process.

   The rhythm of the seasons dominates agriculture as well as wildlife

7. Controlled repetition of a phrase, incident or other element as a stylistic figure in literature and other narrative arts; the effect it creates.

   The running gag is a popular rhythm in motion pictures and theater comedy

8. A person's natural feeling for rhythm.

   That girl's got rhythm, watch her dance!

Synonyms

• meter / metre
• prosody
• (instruments providing rhythm) rhythm section

Derived terms

• battle rhythm
• circadian rhythm
• cross-rhythm
• escape rhythm
• Lombardic rhythm
• Lombard rhythm
• poly-rhythm
• rhythm and blues
• rhythm and grime
• rhythm band
• rhythm box
• rhythm game
• rhythm guitar
• rhythmic
• rhythmical
• rhythm method
• rhythm pole
• rhythm royal
• rhythm stick
• sinus rhythm
• tachyrhythmia
• theta rhythm

 

Related terms

• rhythmicity
• rhythmics
• rhythmist
• rhythmize

 

Translations

variation of strong and weak elements of sounds over time

• Afrikaans: ritme
• Albanian: ritëm (sq)
• Arabic: إِيقَاع m (ʔiqāʕ)

  Hijazi Arabic: إِيقَاع m (ʔigāʕ)

• Armenian: ռիթմ (hy) (ṙitʻm)
• Asturian: ritmu m
• Azerbaijani: ritm (az)
• Belarusian: рытм m (rytm)
• Bengali: তাল (tal)
• Bulgarian: ри́тъм (bg) m (rítǎm)
• Burmese: စည်းချက် (cany:hkyak)
• Catalan: ritme (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 節奏／节奏 (zh) (jiézòu)

• Czech: rytmus (cs) m, takt (cs) m
• Danish: rytme (da) c
• Dutch: ritme (nl) n
• Esperanto: ritmo (eo)
• Estonian: rütm
• Farefare: ditmo
• Faroese: rútma f
• Finnish: rytmi (fi), tahti (fi)
• French: rythme (fr) m
• Galician: ritmo (gl) m
• Georgian: რიტმი (riṭmi)
• German: Rhythmus (de) m
• Gilbertese: te katoang
• Greek: ρυθμός (el) m (rythmós)

  Ancient: ῥυθμός m (rhuthmós)

• Gujarati: તાલ (tāl)
• Hausa: taakee
• Hawaiian: pana o ka mele, pā
• Hebrew: קֶצֶב (he) m (kétsev)
• Hindi: ताल (hi) m (tāl)
• Hungarian: ritmus (hu)
• Icelandic: taktur m
• Indonesian: ritme (id)
• Irish: rithim f
• Italian: ritmo (it) m
• Japanese: リズム (ja) (rizumu)
• Kannada: ಮರುಕಳಿಕೆ (kn) (marukaḷike)
• Kazakh: ритм (ritm)
• Khmer: ចង្វាក់ (km) (cɑngvak)
• Korean: 리듬 (ko) (rideum)
• Kyrgyz: ритм (ritm)
• Lao: ຈັງຫວະ (chang wa)
• Latvian: ritms m
• Lithuanian: ritmas m
• Macedonian: ритам m (ritam)
• Malay: rentak, ritma
• Malayalam: താളം (ml) (tāḷaṁ)
• Maori: ūngeri
• Marathi: ताल m (tāl)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rytme (no) m

  Nynorsk: rytme m

• Persian: ریتم (fa) (ritm)
• Polish: rytm (pl) m
• Portuguese: ritmo (pt) m
• Quechua: waskariqlla
• Romanian: ritm (ro)
• Russian: ритм (ru) m (ritm), такт (ru) m (takt)
• Scottish Gaelic: ruitheam m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рѝтам m

  Roman: rìtam (sh) m

• Slovak: rytmus m
• Slovene: ritem (sl) m
• Spanish: ritmo (es) m
• Swahili: mahadhi
• Swedish: rytm (sv) c
• Sylheti: ꠔꠣꠟ (tal)
• Tagalog: ritmo (tl), indayog (tl), aliw-iw (tl)
• Tajik: ритм (ritm)
• Tamil: தாளம் (ta) (tāḷam)
• Tashelhit: ajmak m
• Telugu: లయ (te) (laya)
• Thai: จังหวะ (th) (jang-wà)
• Turkish: ritim (tr), ritm (tr)
• Turkmen: ritm
• Ukrainian: ритм m (rytm)
• Urdu: تال m (tāl)
• Uzbek: ritm (uz)
• Vietnamese: nhịp điệu (vi)
• Yiddish: ריטם m (ritm), ריטעם m (ritem)

tempo or speed of a beat, song, or repeated event

• Asturian: ritmu m
• Belarusian: рытм m (rytm)
• Bulgarian: ри́тъм (bg) m (rítǎm)
• Burmese: ရစ်သမ် (racsam), စည်းချက် (cany:hkyak)
• Catalan: ritme (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 節奏／节奏 (zh) (jiézòu)

• Czech: rytmus (cs) m
• Danish: rytme (da) c
• Dutch: ritme (nl) n
• Estonian: rütm
• Finnish: rytmi (fi), tahti (fi)
• Galician: ritmo (gl) m
• Greek: ρυθμός (el) m (rythmós)

  Ancient: ρυθμός m (ruthmós)

• Hungarian: ütem (hu)
• Khmer: ចង្វាក់ (km) (cɑngvak)
• Latvian: ritms m
• Lithuanian: ritmas m
• Macedonian: ритам m (ritam)
• Maori: manawataki
• Marathi: ताल m (tāl)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rytme (no) m, rytmikk m

  Nynorsk: rytme m, rytmikk m

• Polish: rytm (pl) m
• Portuguese: ritmo (pt) m
• Russian: ритм (ru) m (ritm)
• Scottish Gaelic: ruitheam m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рѝтам m

  Roman: rìtam (sh) m

• Slovak: rytmus m
• Slovene: ritem (sl) m
• Tagalog: aliw-iw (tl)
• Tajik: ритм (ritm)
• Ukrainian: ритм m (rytm)
• Yiddish: ריטם m (ritm), ריטעם m (ritem)

rhythm section — see rhythm section

flow, repetition or regularity

• Czech: rytmus (cs) m, tempo (cs) n
• Danish: mønster (da) n
• Dutch: ritme (nl) n
• Finnish: rytmi (fi)
• Latvian: ritms m
• Portuguese: ritmo (pt) m
• Russian: ритм (ru) m (ritm)
• Spanish: ritmo (es) m
• Yiddish: ריטם m (ritm), ריטעם m (ritem)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} ritmo (eo)
• French: ^{(please verify)} rythme (fr) m
• German: ^{(please verify)} Rhythmus (de) m
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} ritmo (it) m
• Malayalam: ^{(please verify)} താളം (ml) (tāḷaṁ)
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} ritem (sl) m
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} ritmo (es) m
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} లయ (te) (laya)