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DictionaryrimeFrozen droplet coating
noun / verb

rime

RIME/raɪm/

Frost formed when water droplets freeze on a surface.

Granular rime coats the twig's windward side in the freezing fog.

Close-up of a bare twig coated on its windward side with opaque, granular rime ice in freezing fog, contrasting with exposed dark bark on the sheltered side.
Etymology
rimeOld Englishhoarfrost, white frost

Old English hrim already meant white frost. The modern sense preserves that core meaning, naming the frost coating produced when water droplets freeze on a cold surface.

In context

KFYR+3:12
With the rime ice the supercooled water droplets freeze on contact.
Morse Code of Weather: hoar frost vs. rime ice – both create frosty, wintry scenes

More examples

  • Tiny droplets rime the branches as the fog passes.
  • The climbers brush rime off their equipment.
  • Freezing mist has rimed the ship's railings.

Forms

rime · rimes · rimed · riming

rimy adjective — Covered with a coating of rime.

Similar words

frost
A broader term for an icy deposit on cold surfaces.
hoarfrost
Forms directly from water vapor rather than freezing droplets.