cymbal [OE] The shape of a cymbal is central to its name: it comes via Latin cymbalum from Greek kumbalon, from kumbē ‘cup’. Chime [ME] was first recorded as meaning ‘cymbal’ as a noun, and ‘ring out’ as a verb. It is probably the Old English form, cimbal (which would have been pronounced with a ‘ch’ sound, the modern ‘s’ sound coming from French) later interpreted as ‘chime bell’.