Marriage

How to spell marriage

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce marriage

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does marriage mean?

1. nounThe legally or formally recognised union of two people as partners.
2. nounThe ceremony or act of marrying.

Marriage in a sentence

• Their marriage lasted more than forty years.

• The marriage took place in a small country chapel.

• The registrar recorded the marriage in the official ledger.

• Guests gathered outside before the marriage began.

Where does marriage come from?

Language of origin: French

Marriage entered English in the 1200s from the Old French mariage, which in turn grew from the verb marier, meaning 'to marry'. That verb descended from the Latin maritare, 'to wed' or 'to give in marriage', built on maritus, meaning 'husband' or 'married'. The French ending -age, used to form nouns describing a state, action, or condition, gives us the sense of 'the condition of being married', and you can see the same ending in relatives like 'voyage' and 'village'. The trap in the spelling is precisely that French -age: writers know how to spell the verb 'marry' but then must remember to swap the final y for an i and add -age rather than writing it as it sounds. The doubled r, carried straight over from 'marry', is another spot where a hurried hand often slips.

How the word is built

• marri- (from marry, via Old French marier)
• -age (noun suffix meaning state or condition)