rhythm
/ˈɹɪð.əm/noun, verb
rhythm is spelled R-H-Y-T-H-M. The wrong spelling people search most is rythm: about 3,170 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Rhythm is a noun meaning “The variation of strong and weak elements (such as duration, accent) of sounds, notably in speech or music…”. The plural of rhythm is rhythms.
How many letters and syllables are in rhythm?
| Letters | 6: R-H-Y-T-H-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 11 times per million words; the 6,565th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 6; the most searched, rythm, about 3,170 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell rhythm?
Rhythm is spelled R-H-Y-T-H-M. 6 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 3 in 10 of the searches for rhythm in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is rhythm?
Rhythm appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,565th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce rhythm?
- US /ˈɹɪð.əm/
- US [ˈɹɪð.m̩]
Rhythm has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-rhythm.wav, En-us-rhythm.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of rhythm
- rhythms plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- rhythming participle, present
- rhythmed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does rhythm mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 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!
verb
- 1
To impart a (particular) rhythm to.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Rhythm in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense variation of strong and weak elements of sounds over time:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does rhythm come from?
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”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).