Bedding

How to spell bedding

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce bedding

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bedding mean?

1. nounThe sheets, blankets, duvets, and pillows used to cover and dress a bed.
2. nounStraw, shavings, or similar material laid down for animals to lie on.
3. nounPlants set out in a prepared plot for a seasonal display, or the practice of doing so.

Bedding in a sentence

• She washed the bedding after the guests left.

• The farmer spread fresh straw as bedding for the cattle.

• She filled the borders with summer bedding for a splash of colour.

• Fresh bedding made the spare room feel welcoming.

• Clean bedding keeps the rabbit hutch dry and warm.

• The park staff order trays of bedding every spring.

Where does bedding come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends directly from Old English, where 'bedd' meant a sleeping place or a plot of ground, and the related form 'bedding' already described the materials laid out for sleeping on. It belongs to the native Germanic stock of English and has cousins in other Germanic languages, such as German 'Bett', all going back to a common root that some scholars connect to the idea of a dug-out or hollowed resting spot. The sense broadened naturally over the centuries: from the coverings on a human bed, to the litter spread out for animals, to the prepared soil where plants are set, and even to the layered arrangement of rock that geologists describe. The spelling trap is simple but real: because the single-syllable root 'bed' ends in a short vowel followed by a single consonant, that consonant doubles before the suffix, giving 'bedding' with two d's rather than one.

How the word is built

• bed (sleeping place)
• -ing (noun-forming suffix denoting material or covering)