[ tIm ] (noun.) before 12th century. From Middle English time, from Old English tīma, from Proto-Germanic *tīmô (“time”) from Proto-Germanic base *tī- (“time, tide”), from Proto-Indo-European *dī- (“time”). Akin to Old Norse tīmi (“time”), Danish and Norwegian time (“stound, hour”), Swedish timme (“stound, hour”). Related to tide.