Dowry

How to spell dowry

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce dowry

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dowry mean?

1. nounMoney or property that a bride or her family gives to the husband or his family at marriage.

Dowry in a sentence

• Her family offered a generous dowry when the marriage was arranged.

• The custom of paying a dowry has been outlawed in several countries.

Where does dowry come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word came into English in the 1300s from Anglo-Norman dowarie, a form of Old French douaire, which descended from the Medieval Latin dotarium. That Latin word was built on dos, with the stem dot-, meaning a gift or, more specifically, the marriage portion that a bride brought to her husband. The root ultimately traces back to the Latin verb dare, meaning 'to give', the same ancestor that underlies words like 'donate' and 'date'. Originally English distinguished a 'dowry' (the bride's property) from a 'dower' (the widow's share from the husband's estate), and the two words, both from dos, were often blurred. The compressed spelling, with the silent feel of the 'w' tucked between 'do' and 'ry', is what trips writers who expect a longer form like 'dowery'.

How the word is built

• dow- (from Latin dos, dotem: a gift, marriage portion)
• -ry (noun suffix)