bedfellow
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bedfellow
- /ˈbɛdˌfɛloʊ/ US
Where it comes from
From Middle English bedfelawe, equivalent to bed + fellow. Sense 2 "associate, especially improbable" is influenced by strange bedfellow and its allusion to Shakespeare's The Tempest.
noun bedfellows
-
One with whom one shares a bed.
Yong budding Virgin, faire, and freſh,& ſweet, / Whether away, or whether is thy aboade? / Happy the Parents of ſo faire a childe; / Happier the man whom fauourable ſtars / A lots thee for his louely bedfellow.
Similar: bedmate, bedpartner
- An associate, often an otherwise improbable one. They say that "misfortune makes men acquainted with strange bedfellows". The old hereditary Whig Cabinet ministers must, no doubt, by this time have learned to feel themselves at home with strange neighbours at their elbows.
Translations
Every language
noun one with whom one shares a bed
| Deutsch | Bettgenosse, Bettgenossin |
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Talk about this word "bedfellow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bedfellow. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. bedfellow. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bedfellow "bedfellow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bedfellow.Cite this
@misc{bedfellow_2026,
title = {bedfellow},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bedfellow},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
