Rima

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɹaɪ.mə/

Definitions

1. A narrow opening or crack in a surface or object
2. a seam or slit that allows passage or visibility
3. a term used in poetry to denote the ending of lines that create a specific sound or rhythm

Etymology: Latin "rīma" meant a cleft, crack, or fissure, and English took it over in its original physical sense. The word is most familiar today as a noun for a narrow opening, the kind of gap a crack leaves in a wall or a split leaves in a rock, and that concrete meaning has stayed close to the Latin one. The surprise is how little the word has changed in shape or sense since it crossed into English. A Roman describing a fracture in stone and an English speaker describing a slit in a shutter are using the same thing: a thin line where two surfaces have parted. Few borrowed nouns from Latin keep their everyday meaning so faithfully.

Synonyms: fissure, cleft, gap, crack, opening