dowry
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dowry
- /ˈdaʊəɹi/ US, UK
- /ˈdaʊɹi/ US, UK
Rhymes with -aʊəɹi, -aʊɹi
Where it comes from
From Middle English dowarye, dowerie, from Anglo-Norman dowarie, douarie, from Old French douaire, from Medieval Latin dōtārium, from Latin dōs. Doublet of dower.
noun dowries
-
Payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage.
Opposite: bride price, reverse dowry, dower, see others at bride price
-
Payment by the groom or his family to the bride's family.
The family of the groom makes sure the new couple has a house to live in and land to cultivate; they will also pay for the dowry (crucial, for without dowry the new father has no rights over his children; Trouwborst 1962: 136ff.)
Similar: bride price, reverse dowry, dower, see others at bride price
-
Inheritance from a deceased husband to his widow.
Similar: dower
- A natural gift or talent.
- A large amount. But no palace had so fair a ceiling; for from the wooden beams were suspended a whole dowry of copper vessels—pails, cauldrons, water pots, of every colour from lustrous black to the palest pink.
verb dowries · dowrying · dowried
- To bestow a dowry upon. 1976, Graham Anderson, Studies in Lucian's Comic Fiction, Page 19
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: dowery, dower, gift, skill, dot, vein, trousseau, marriage settlement, marriage portion, endowment, bridewealth, marital portion, morning gift, stridhan, lobola, patrimony
Translations
Every language
noun property or payment given at time of marriage
| Español | dote, prebenda |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 지참금 jichamgeum, 혼수 honsu |
| 日本語 | 持参金 jisankin |
| 中文 | 嫁妝 /嫁妆 jiàzhuāng, 陪嫁 péijià, 陪送 péisong, 妝奩 /妆奁 zhuānglián |
| हिन्दी | दहेज़ dahez, दायजा dāyjā, महर mahar |
| Kiswahili | mahari |
| Português | dote |
| Français | dot |
| Deutsch | Aussteuer, Mitgift, Brautschatz |
| Italiano | dote |
| Ελληνικά | προίκα proíka |
| Română | zestre, dotă |
| Русский | прида́ное pridánoje, ве́но véno |
| Tiếng Việt | của hồi môn |
| العربية | مَهْر mahr |
| עברית | נְדוּנְיָה n'dúnya |
Talk about this word "dowry." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dowry. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. dowry. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dowry "dowry." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dowry.Cite this
@misc{dowry_2026,
title = {dowry},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dowry},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
