bridesmaid

bridesmaid

See also: bride's maid

English

A wedding party including three bridesmaids, ca. 1936

Alternative forms

• bridemaid (archaic)
• bride's maid

Etymology

From bride +‎ -s- +‎ maid. Sports/entertainment sense: in reference to the saying always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹaɪdzˌmeɪd/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

bridesmaid (plural bridesmaids)

1. A woman who attends a bride during her wedding ceremony, as part of the main wedding party.

   I'd love to be your bridesmaid at the wedding.

2. (sports, entertainment) A person or team that perennially finishes well, but never first.

Coordinate terms

• bridesman

Derived terms

• always a bridesmaid, never a bride
• junior bridesmaid

Related terms

• bridesmaiden
• bridesmatron

Translations

woman who attends the bride at a wedding ceremony

Afrikaans: strooimeisie Bulgarian: шаферка f (šaferka) Chinese: Mandarin: 伴娘 (zh) (bànniáng), 女儐相／女傧相 (zh) (nǚbīnxiàng) Czech: družička f Danish: brudepige c Esperanto: fianĉamikino Faroese: brúðkona f Finnish: morsiusneito (fi) French: demoiselle d'honneur (fr) f German: Brautjungfer (de) f Greek: παράνυμφος c (paránymfos) Hiligaynon: abay Hungarian: koszorúslány (hu) Irish: cailín coimhdeachta m Italian: damigella d'onore f Japanese: ブライズメイド (buraizumeido), 花嫁介添人 (はなよめかいぞえにん, hanayome kaizoenin), 介添人 (かいぞえにん, kaizoenin) Macedonian: деверица f (deverica) Norman: fil'ye d'honneu f (Jersey) Norwegian: Bokmål: brudepike m or f, forlover m Polish: druhna (pl) f Portuguese: dama de honra f Romanian: domnișoară de onoare (ro) f Russian: подру́жка неве́сты f (podrúžka nevésty), подру́жка (ru) f (podrúžka), дру́жка (ru) m or f (drúžka), свиде́тельница (ru) f (svidételʹnica) Scottish Gaelic: maighdean-phòsaidh f Serbo-Croatian: deveruša (sh) f Slovak: družica f Spanish: dama de honor f Sundanese: ᮕᮌᮛᮚᮥ (pagarayu) Swedish: brudtärna (sv) c Tagalog: dama sa kasal, abay sa kasal Telugu: తోడిపెండ్లికూతురు (tōḍipeṇḍlikūturu) Thai: เพื่อนเจ้าสาว Turkish: nedime (tr) Vietnamese: phù dâu (vi)

person or team that perennially finishes well, but never first

Finnish: ikuinen kakkonen

See also

• maid of honor the primary bridesmaid
• bridesmaids the group of women as a whole

Verb

bridesmaid (third-person singular simple present bridesmaids, present participle bridesmaiding, simple past and past participle bridesmaided)

1. To act as a bridesmaid for; to attend a bride during her wedding ceremony.
   • 1858, Anthony Trollope, Doctor Thorne‎, volume 1, page 83:

     "No, Trichy; I won't be Augusta's bridesmaid; I'll bide my time for bridesmaiding."

   • 1915, George Jean Nathan, Henry Louis Mencken, The smart set: a magazine of cleverness, Volume 45, page 204,

     And what's this? that isn't Herbie Frost with you in the canoe ; why he was best man when I bridesmaided Corinne.

   • 1989, Kevin Killian, Shy‎, page 233:

     "It's in my Data-fax, right here! December Bride: and I'm supposed to bridesmaid!"

   • 2007, Siri Agrell, Bad Bridesmaid: True Tales of Bachelorette Brawls and Taffeta Tantrums‎, page 150:

     After ten years of friendship and just six months of lackluster bridesmaiding, the women did not even get an invitation to the wedding.

   • 2010, Mark Townsend, Jesus Outside the Box: Twelve Spiritual Tales of the Unexpected‎, page 308:

     Still they bridesmaided for her.

Translations

to act as a bridesmaid (for)

Finnish: toimia morsiusneitona Irish: seas le Swedish: vara brudtärna (sv)

Anagrams

• bridemaids