What does "stave-rhyme" mean?

A (stressed) word that rhymes with another, in that it begins with the same consonant, consonant cluster, or vowel.

What is a synonym for "stave-rhyme"?

Common synonyms include: alliterate, alliteration.

//steɪv.ɹaɪm// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A (stressed) word that rhymes with another, in that it begins with the same consonant, consonant cluster, or vowel. countable, usually
"The poem is littered with stave-rhymes like "start, stop"."
2
This kind of rhyme. uncountable, usually
"The poem exhibits stave-rhyme."

Verb

1
To exhibit this kind of rhyme.
"Richard Kienast, in a study of the prose style of the Old High German Isidor translation, remarked that the relics of elevated celebratory composition, as the ‘stave-rhyming formulas’ were described, need to be treated."

"The poem is littered with stave-rhymes like "start, stop"."

Most likely a calque of a Germanic term, such as German Stabreim or Danish stavrim.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.