noun

1. a ceremonial or formal, solemn act, observance, or procedure in accordance with prescribed rule or custom, as in religious use marriage rites
2. any formal, customary observance, practice, or procedure the rites of courtship
3. 1. a prescribed form or particular system of ceremonial procedure, religious or otherwise; ritual the Scottish rite of Freemasonry
   2. liturgy; esp., any of the historical forms of the Eucharistic service the Byzantine rite
4. a division of (Eastern and Western) churches according to the liturgy used

Etymology: ME < L ritus < IE *rēi-, var. of base *ar-, to join, fit > art, read, rate, arithmetic