Time

How to spell time

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce time

What does time mean?

1. nounThe ongoing sequence of events and the measured duration in which they occur.
2. verbTo measure how long something takes, or to schedule it for a particular moment.

Time in a sentence

• noun

  The meeting starts at the same time every week.

• verb

  The coach will time each runner with a stopwatch.

• noun

  We simply ran out of time before the deadline.

• verb

  They tried to time their arrival to avoid the rush hour.

Where does time come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Time comes straight from the Old English word tīma, which meant a limited stretch, a period, or a fitting season for something to happen. It traces back to a Germanic root tī- carrying the idea of a stretch or division, and it is closely related to the word 'tide', which once also meant a period or season before it narrowed to the rise and fall of the sea (you can still hear the old sense in 'Yuletide' and 'noontide'). For most of its history the word described an occasion or a portion of duration rather than the abstract, measurable continuum we now think of, a meaning that grew alongside clocks and science. Because it is such an old, well worn native word, the spelling is short and regular, and the only mild quirk is the silent final 'e' that signals the long 'i' sound.

How the word is built

• time (single native root, no affixes; from Old English tīma)

Words that sound like time

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• thyme: A small aromatic herb with tiny leaves, used to flavour cooking.