chirm

• churm
• churme (obsolete)

From Middle English chirmen (“to chirp, twitter”), from Old English ċirman (“to make a noise, cry out, shout”), from Proto-West Germanic *karmijan (“to make a sound”).

The noun is from Middle English chirm (“the call of various birds; chirping”), from Old English ċirm, ċyrm, ċierm (“noise, cry, alarm”), from Proto-West Germanic *karmi, *karm, from Proto-Germanic *karmaz, *karmiz. Doublet of charm (“sound, voices; group, flock”).

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɜː(ɹ)m/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)m

chirm (plural chirms)

1. (obsolete) A din or confused noise, as of many voices, birdsong, etc.

chirm (third-person singular simple present chirms, present participle chirming, simple past and past participle chirmed)

1. (obsolete) To chirp or to make a mournful cry, as a bird does.
   • 1552, Richard Huloet, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Chyrme or chur, as byrdes do.

• “chirm”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• charme, cherme, chirme (Late Middle English)

Inherited from Old English ċierm f, from Proto-West Germanic *karmi, from Proto-Germanic *karmiz.

The variant charme can either originate from the Old English variant ċearm m (from Proto-West Germanic *karm) or *ċerm, the unattested Mercian cognate of West Saxon Old English ċierm with late Middle English lowering of /ɛr/ to /ar/ (thus reflecting an alternative dialectal development of *karmi).

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃirm/, /t͡ʃɛrm/, /t͡ʃarm/ (directly attested)
• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃurm/ (possibly)

chirm

1. (rare) A chirp or tweet; an avian vocalisation.

• chirmen

• English: chirm, churm; charm, jarm
• Scots: chirm, churme

• “chirm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.