thyme

English

A thyme plant, Thymus camphoratus

Etymology

From Middle English tyme, from Old French thym, from Latin thymum, from Ancient Greek θύμον (thúmon).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taɪm/
• Rhymes: -aɪm
• Homophone: time

Noun

thyme (countable and uncountable, plural thymes)

1. Any plant of the labiate genus Thymus, such as garden thyme (Thymus vulgaris), a warm, pungent aromatic, that is much used to give a relish to seasoning and soups.

Usage notes

• In older Irish and British poems and songs, the plant was sometimes seen as a metaphor for virginity and chastity.

examples

• 17th century, A Bunch of Thyme (traditional song):

  Come all ye maidens young and fair

  And you that are blooming in your prime

  Always beware and keep your garden fair

  Let no man steal away your thyme

• 1792, Kellyburn Braes (Robert Burns Poem):

  I've got a bad wife, sir, that's a' my complaint,

  Hey, and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;

  "For, savin your presence, to her ye're a saint,"

  And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

• 19th century, A Sprig of Thyme (traditional):

  Wunst I had a sprig of thyme,

  it prospered by night and by day

  till a false young man came acourtin' te me,

  and he stole all this thyme away.

Derived terms

• basil thyme
• caraway thyme
• cat thyme (Teucrium marum)
• creeping thyme
• English thyme
• French thyme
• lemon thyme
• mother-of-thyme
• thymic
• thymol
• wild thyme

 

Translations

plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme

• Akkadian: 𒄩𒋗𒌑 (/⁠ḫašû⁠/).
• Albanian: trumzë (sq), shtërmen (sq)
• Arabic: زَعْتَر (ar) m (zaʕtar), صَعْتَر m (ṣaʕtar), حَاشَا f (ḥāšā)

  Egyptian Arabic: زعتر m (záʕtar)

  Hijazi Arabic: زَعْتَر m (zaʕtar)

• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: חָשָׁא m (ḥāšā), חָאשָׁא m (ḥāšā)

  Syriac: ܚܫܐ m (ḥāšā), ܚܐܫܐ m (ḥāšā)

• Armenian: ուրց (hy) (urcʻ)
• Belarusian: чабо́р m (čabór)
• Bulgarian: ма́щерка (bg) f (mášterka)
• Catalan: farigola (ca) f, timó (ca) m, tomello (ca) m, timonet m, tomell m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 百里香 (zh) (bǎilǐxiāng), 麝香草 (zh) (shèxiāngcǎo)

• Cornish: kosfinel pl
• Czech: mateřídouška (cs) f, tymián m
• Danish: timian c
• Dutch: tijm (nl)
• Esperanto: timiano
• Estonian: liivatee, tüümian
• Finnish: timjami (fi) (seasoning), ajuruoho (fi) (plant)
• French: thym (fr) m
• Galician: tomiño (gl) m, tormentelo m, tromentelo m
• Georgian: ქონდარი (kondari)
• German: Thymian (de) m
• Greek: θυμάρι (el) n (thymári)

  Ancient: θύμον n (thúmon)

• Greenlandic: tupaarnaq (kl)
• Hebrew: תימין m (timín), קוֹרָנִית f (qoranít)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: kakukkfű (hu)
• Icelandic: timjan n
• Ido: timiano (io)
• Irish: tím f
• Italian: timo (it) m
• Japanese: タイム (ja) (taimu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: please add this translation if you can

• Latin: thymum n
• Lithuanian: čiobrẽlis m, čiõbras m
• Macedonian: тимијан m (timijan), мајчина душичка f (majčina dušička), матерка f (materka)
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Manx: teim f
• Maori: tāima (mi)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: timian m

  Nynorsk: timian m

• Occitan: frigola (oc) f
• Persian: آویشن (fa) (âvišan), حاشا (fa) (hâšâ)
• Polish: tymianek (pl) m, macierzanka (pl) f
• Portuguese: tomilho (pt) m, timo (pt)
• Romanian: lămâioară (ro) f, cimbru (ro) m
• Russian: тимья́н (ru) m (timʹján), чабре́ц (ru) m (čabréc)
• Scottish Gaelic: tìom f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тѝмија̄н m

  Latin: tìmijān (sh) m

• Slovene: tȋmijan (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: duška f, babyduška f, babina duška f

• Spanish: tomillo (es) m
• Swedish: timjan (sv) c
• Tagalog: tomilyo
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Tatar: чабыр (çabır)
• Telugu: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: kekik (tr)
• Ukrainian: чебре́ць m (čebrécʹ)
• Urdu: حاشا (hāśā)
• Uzbek: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: húng tây
• Welsh: teim m, gruw m
• Yiddish: טימיאַן m (timyan)

References

• thyme on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Thymus (Lamiaceae) on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Thymus (Lamiaceae) on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• methy, mythe

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈtʰy.me/, [ˈt̪ʰʏmɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈti.me/, [ˈt̪iːme]

Noun

thyme

1. vocative singular of thymus