Blessed

How to spell blessed

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce blessed

What does blessed mean?

1. verbPast tense of bless: to have conferred a blessing, good fortune, or sanction on someone or something.
2. adjectiveEndowed with good fortune, holiness, or welcome relief; often pronounced as two syllables.

Blessed in a sentence

• verb

  The priest blessed the newly married couple at the altar.

• adjective

  After the long heatwave, the rain felt like a blessed relief.

• verb

  The committee blessed the proposal before sending it forward.

• adjective

  They considered themselves blessed to have such supportive neighbours.

Where does blessed come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English verb bletsian or bloedsian, which meant 'to consecrate' or 'to make holy', and which was rooted in blod, the Old English word for 'blood'. The original idea was strikingly literal: an altar or object was made sacred by being sprinkled or marked with sacrificial blood. After the Norman Conversion to Christianity, the word was pulled toward the Latin benedicere, 'to speak well of', and the meaning softened into the gentler sense of invoking divine favour. The spelling settled with the doubled 's' and the simple '-ed' ending, even though the adjective is often pronounced as two syllables ('BLESS-id') while the verb is pronounced as one ('blest'). That split pronunciation, paired with a single fixed spelling, is the small trap that catches careful writers.

How the word is built

• bless (from Old English bletsian: to consecrate with blood)
• -ed (past tense / adjective suffix)