Meaning
A “head” (of unexpanded leaves, etc.); an opening bud.
Etymology
Origin: Latin
] Borrowed from French cime, cyme (“top, summit”), from Vulgar Latin *cima, from Latin cȳma (“young sprout of a cabbage”, “spring shoots of cabbage”), from Ancient Greek κῦμα (kûma, “anything swollen, such as a wave or billow”; “fetus”, “embryo”, “sprout of a plant”), from κύω (kúō, “to conceive”, “to become pregnant”; in the aorist “to impregnate”). For considerably more information, see cyma, which is an etymological doublet. Compare also Frankish *kīmō (“sprout”), from Proto-Germanic *kīmô, whence German Keim (“sprout”).
Synonyms & Antonyms
NYT Puzzle Appearances
No published puzzle dates on file for this word yet. It is part of the official NYT Spelling Bee word list for 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025.