Standard Lemma guide

thyme

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /taɪm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian: /tɑem/
  • New-Zealand: [tɑe̯m]
  • South-Asia: /ʈhajm/
  • South-Asia: /t̪hajm/
  • rhymes with -aɪm
  • homophone: time (most accents)
  • CMU ARPABET: TH AY1 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

leaves can be used as seasoning for almost any meat and stews and stuffings and vegetables

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: herb

3

noun

Meaning 3

any of various mints of the genus Thymus

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: herb, herbaceous plant

Narrower terms: common thyme, Thymus vulgaris, wild thyme, creeping thyme, Thymus serpyllum

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

94 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Akkadian: 𒄩𒋗𒌑 (/⁠ḫašû⁠/) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Albanian: trumzë — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Albanian: shtërmen — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Arabic: زَعْتَر (zaʕtar) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Arabic: صَعْتَر (ṣaʕtar) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Arabic: حَاشَا (ḥāšā) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Arabic: زعتر (záʕtar) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Arabic: زَعْتَر (zaʕtar) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Aramaic: חָשָׁא (ḥāšā) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Aramaic: חָאשָׁא (ḥāšā) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Aramaic: ܚܫܐ (ḥāšā) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Aramaic: ܚܐܫܐ (ḥāšā) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Armenian: ուրց (urcʻ) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Asturian: tomillu — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Asturian: serpollu — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Belarusian: чабо́р (čabór) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Bulgarian: ма́щерка (mášterka) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Catalan: farigola — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Catalan: timó — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Catalan: tomello — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Catalan: timonet — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Catalan: tomell — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Chinese Mandarin: 百里香 (bǎilǐxiāng) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Chinese Mandarin: 麝香草 (shèxiāngcǎo) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Cornish: kosfinel — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Czech: mateřídouška — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Czech: tymián — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Danish: timian — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Dutch: tijm — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Esperanto: timiano — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Estonian: liivatee — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Estonian: tüümian — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Finnish: timjami — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Finnish: ajuruoho — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • French: thym — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Galician: tomiño — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Galician: tormentelo — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Galician: tromentelo — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Georgian: ქონდარი (kondari) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • German: Thymian — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Greek: θυμάρι (thymári) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Ancient Greek: θύμον (thúmon) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Greenlandic: tupaarnaq — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Hebrew: תימין (timín) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Hebrew: קוֹרָנִית (qoranít) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Hungarian: kakukkfű — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Icelandic: timjan — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Ido: timiano — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Irish: tím — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Italian: timo — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Japanese: タイム (taimu) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Kalmyk: эрвң (ervñ) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Latin: thymum — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Lithuanian: čiobrẽlis — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Lithuanian: čiõbras — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Macedonian: тимијан (timijan) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Macedonian: мајчина душичка (majčina dušička) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Macedonian: матерка (materka) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Manx: teim — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Māori: tāima — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Norwegian Bokmål: timian — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: timian — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Occitan: frigola — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Pannonian Rusyn: мацерина душичка (macerina dušička) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Persian: آویشن (âvišan) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Persian: حاشا (hâšâ) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Polish: tymianek — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Polish: macierzanka — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Portuguese: tomilho — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Portuguese: timo — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Romanian: lămâioară — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Romanian: cimbru — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Russian: тимья́н (timʹján) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Russian: чабре́ц (čabréc) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Scottish Gaelic: tìom — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Serbo-Croatian: тѝмија̄н — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Serbo-Croatian: tìmijān — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Slovene: tȋmijan — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Upper Sorbian: duška — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Upper Sorbian: babyduška — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Upper Sorbian: babina duška — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Spanish: tomillo — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Spanish: ditén — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Swedish: timjan — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Tagalog: tomilyo — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Tatar: чабыр (çabır) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Turkish: kekik — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Ukrainian: чебре́ць (čebrécʹ) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Urdu: حاشا (hāśā) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Vietnamese: húng tây — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Volapük: tüum — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Welsh: teim — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Welsh: gruw — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme
  • Yiddish: טימיאַן (timyan) — plant of the genus Thymus — see also wild thyme