English

Alternative forms

• cime (in the obsolete first sense only, [18th century])

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sīm, IPA^(key): /saɪm/

Noun

cyme ‎(plural cymes)

1. (spelt cime, obsolete, rare) A “head” (of unexpanded leaves, etc.); an opening bud.
2. (botany) A flattish or convex flower cluster, of the centrifugal or determinate type, on which each axis terminates with a flower which blooms before the flowers below it. Contrast raceme.
   • 1906, Daniel Coit Gilman, Harry Thurston Peck, Frank Moore Colby (editors), Gentianaceæ, article in The New International Encyclopædia,

     The inflorescence is some form of cyme, and the flowers are usually regular.

   • 2003, S. M. Reddy, S. J. Chary, University Botany 2: Gymnosperms, Plant Anatomy, Genetics, Ecology, page 190,

     The plant bears small groups of two or three yellowish coloured flowers on an axillary cyme.

   • 2003, David Curtis Ferree, Ian J. Warrington, Apples: Botany, Production and Uses, page 157,

     The flower cluster is a cyme (terminal flower is the most advanced), is terminal within the bud and may contain up to six individual flowers.

3. (architecture) = cyma

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

• “Cyme” listed on page 1303 of volume II (C) of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles [1st ed., 1893]
    Cyme (səim). Also 8 cime. [a. F. cime, cyme, in the sense ‘top, summit’ (12th c. in Hatzf.): — pop. L. cima = L. cyma (see above); in the Bot. sense an 18th c. adaptation of the ancient L.] [¶] † 1. (cime.) A ‘head’ (of unexpanded leaves, etc.). Obs. rare. [¶] 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s. v. Sallet, The Buds and tender Cime of Nettles by some eaten raw, by others boiled. [¶] 2. Bot. (cyme.) A species of inflorescence wherein the primary axis bears a single terminal flower which develops first, the system being continued by axes of secondary and higher orders which develop successively in like manner; a centrifugal or definite inflorescence: opposed to Raceme. Applied esp. to compound inflorescences of this type forming a more or less flat head. [¶] 1794 Martyn Rousseau’s Bot. v. 55 The arrangement of the flowers in the elder is called a cyme. 1854 S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (ed. 4) 250 The meadow-sweet, with its crowded cymes. [¶] 3. Arch. = Cyma. [¶] 1877 Blackmore Erema III. xlvii. 106 This is what we call a cyme-joint, a cohesion of two curved surfaces.
• cyme in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “cyme” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd ed., 1989]

Etymology 2

An error for cynne, probably resulting from the overlapping of the two ens in handwriting.

Noun

cyme ‎(plural cymes)

1. Misspelling of senna.

References

• “Cyme” listed on page 1303 of volume II (C) of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles [1st ed., 1893]
    Cyme (Shaks. Macb. v. iii. 55, 1st Folio), supposed to be an error for cynne, Senna. [¶] 1605 Shaks. Macb. v. iii. 55 What Rubarb, Cyme, or what Purgatiue drugge Would scowre these English hence.
• “cyme” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd ed., 1989]

Old English

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *kumiz ‎(“arrival”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- ‎(“to go, come”). Akin to Old Frisian keme, Old Saxon kumi, Old High German cumi ‎(“arrival”), Gothic 𐌵𐌿𐌼𐍃 ‎(qums), Old English cuman ‎(“to come”). More at come.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkyme/

Noun

cyme m

1. coming, arrival; advent, approach
2. an event
3. an outcome, result

Declension

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *kūmiz ‎(“delicate, feeble”). Akin to Old High German kūmo ‎(“tender, dainty, weak”) (German kaum ‎(“hardly”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkyːme/

Adjective

cȳme

1. comely, lovely, splendid, beautiful
2. exquisite

Declension

Related terms

• cȳmlīc