bigamy

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bigamy

/ˈbɪɡəmi/ US, UK

Where it comes from

From Middle English bigamie (“having two spouses simultaneously, bigamy; second marriage; marrying a widow or widower”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman bigamie and Middle French bigamie (“having two spouses simultaneously; second marriage; marrying a widow or widower”) (modern French bigamie (“bigamy”)), and its etymon Late Latin bigamia (“having two spouses simultaneously; second marriage”), from Late Latin, Latin bigamus (“bigamous”) + -ia (variant of -ius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns)). Bigamus is derived from bis (“twice, two times”) + Ancient Greek γάμος (gámos, “marriage; matrimony”) (from Proto-Indo-European *ǵem- (“to marry”)). The English word is analysable as bi- + -gamy.

noun bigamies · bigamie

countable, uncountable The state of having two (legal or illegal) spouses simultaneously. But now we may find in S. Margarets life, who it is that is Chriſtes wife: whereby we are ſo much wiſer than we were before. But looke in the life of S. Katharine, in the golden legend, and you ſhall find that he was alſo married to S. Katharine, and that our ladie made the marriage, &c. An excellen
countable, historical, uncountable A second marriage after the death of a spouse. Bigamie was a counterplea (deuiſed at yͤ Councell of Lyons, vpon mislike of ſecond marriage) to be obiected, when the priſoner demaundeth the benefite of the Clergie, to wit, his Book, as namely to ſay, that he which demaundeth the priuiledge of the Clergie, was married to ſuch a woman at ſuch a pla
Similar: deuterogamy, digamy

Translations

Every language

noun state of having two spouses simultaneously

Español	bigamia
한국어	중혼 junghon
日本語	重婚 jūkon
中文	重婚 chónghūn
Português	bigamia
Français	bigamie
Deutsch	Bigamie, Doppelehe
Italiano	bigamia
Ελληνικά	διγαμία digamía
Română	bigamie
Русский	бигами́я bigamíja, двоежёнство dvoježónstvo
العربية	تَعَدُّد اَلْأَزْوَاج taʕaddud al-ʔazwāj, تَعَدُّد اَلزَّوْجَات taʕaddud az-zawjāt

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MLA

"bigamy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bigamy. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

APA

bigamy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bigamy

Chicago

"bigamy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bigamy.

BibTeX

@misc{bigamy_2026,
  title = {bigamy},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bigamy},
  urldate = {2026-11-07}
}