rhyme or reason

rhyme or reason

English

Alternative forms

• rhyme nor reason

Etymology

Calque of Middle French n'y avoir ryme ne raison (Eustache Deschamps), attributed to the poet Edmund Spenser in a conversation with Queen Elizabeth I.[1] (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

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Noun

rhyme or reason (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic, chiefly in the negative) Logic; common sense.

   Prices vary considerably from one town to another with no apparent rhyme or reason.

   He would often fly into an unexpected rage without rhyme or reason.

Usage notes

• Almost always used in a negative form, particularly with no and, adverbially, without. May also occur as rhyme nor reason, e.g. after neither.

Translations

logic or common sense

Finnish: tolkku (fi), (adverb, negative) syyttä suotta (fi) French: (verbs, negative) n'avoir ni queue ni tête (fr), ne rimer à rien (fr) Galician: sen ton nin son German: Sinn und Verstand Italian: (negative) né capo né coda, (adverb, negative) senza capo né coda\\ Polish: no equivalent term in Polish, but see bez ładu i składu (pl) Portuguese: sem pé nem cabeça (pt) Russian: (negative) ни скла́ду, ни ла́ду (ni skládu, ni ládu) Swedish: rim och reson (sv)

References

1. Rhyme and reason

Further reading

• Gary Martin (1997–), “Rhyme or reason”, in The Phrase Finder.