“ ‖ Cyma” listed on page 1,302 of volume II (C) of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles.( architecture ) A moulding of the cornice, wavelike in form, whose outline consists of a concave and a convex line an ogee.īotany: cyme - see cyme References.( Received Pronunciation ) enPR: sīʹmə, IPA ( key): /ˈsaɪmə/Ĭyma ( plural cymas or cymae or cymæ or cymata).There are several Classical precedents, both from Latin and from Ancient Greek, for formations on the short stem ( κῡμ- ( kūm- )) of this root, although formations on the long stem ( κῡματ- ( kūmat- )) are more common in Ancient Greek consequently, whereas formations on the long stem may be preferable, especially when combined with other Ancient Greek elements, formations on the short stem are by no means incorrect. Latinate phrases that include cyma, namely cyma inversa, cyma recta, and cyma reversa, show that, when employed as a Latin word, cȳma is treated as a first-declension feminine noun rather than as third-declension neuter consonant-stem noun. The fact that the Ancient Greek etymon only inflects as a third-declension neuter noun has led some writers to prescribe forms that preserve the root’s long stem, κῡματ- ( kūmat- ), for philological reasons (see, for example, the 19 citations of cymatoscope), but such forms are rare. Most English coinages on this root are formed on its short stem, κῡμ- ( kūm- ).