Meanings
noundowry (countable and uncountable, plural dowries)
plural dowries
- countableuncountablePayment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage.
Antonyms: bride price, reverse dowry, dower, see others at bride price
- countableuncommonuncountablePayment by the groom or his family to the bride's family.
The family of the groom makes sure the new couple has a house to live in and land to cultivate; they will also pay for the dowry (crucial, for without dowry the new father has no rights over his children; Trouwborst 1962: 136ff.)
2009, Peter Uvin, Life after Violence: A People's Story of Burundi, page 125Synonyms: bride price, reverse dowry, dower, see others at bride price
- countableuncountableA natural gift or talent.
- countableinformaluncountableA large amount.
But no palace had so fair a ceiling; for from the wooden beams were suspended a whole dowry of copper vessels—pails, cauldrons, water pots, of every colour from lustrous black to the palest pink.
1928, E. M. Forster, The Eternal Moment
verbdowry (third-person singular simple present dowries, present participle dowrying, simple past and past participle dowried)
present singular third person dowries · participle present dowrying · participle past dowried · past dowried
- To bestow a dowry upon.
1976, Graham Anderson, Studies in Lucian's Comic Fiction, Page 19
1911, Aida Rodman De Milt, Ways and Days Out of London, page 108
Synonyms & antonyms
nounPayment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage.
Opposite
nounPayment by the groom or his family to the bride's family.
Similar
nounInheritance from a deceased husband to his widow.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
nounmoney or property brought by a woman to her husband at marriage
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindōs
- Medieval Latindōtārium
- Old Frenchdouaire
- Anglo-Normandowarie
- Middle Englishdowarye
- Englishdowry
From Middle English dowarye, dowerie, from Anglo-Norman dowarie, douarie, from Old French douaire, from Medieval Latin dōtārium, from Latin dōs. Doublet of dower.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans bruidsprys, lobola
- bruidsprysproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- lobolaproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Ancient Greek προίξ, προίξ
- προίξ (proíx)property or payment given at time of marriage
- προίξ (proíx)property or payment given at time of marriage
- φερνή (phernḗ)property or payment given at time of marriage
Arabic مَهْر
- مَهْر (mahr)property or payment given at time of marriage
Bengali যৌতুক, পণ
- যৌতুক (jōutuk)property or payment given at time of marriage
- পণ (pon)property or payment given at time of marriage
Bulgarian зе́стра, при́дан
- зе́стра (zéstra)property or payment given at time of marriage
- при́дан (prídan)property or payment given at time of marriage
- чеи́з (čeíz)property or payment given at time of marriage
- вено́ (venó)property or payment given at time of marriage
- ве́но (véno)property or payment given at time of marriage
Catalan dot
- dotproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Chinese Mandarin 嫁妝 /嫁妆, 陪嫁
- 嫁妝 /嫁妆 (jiàzhuāng)property or payment given at time of marriage
- 陪嫁 (péijià)property or payment given at time of marriage
- 陪送 (péisong)property or payment given at time of marriage
- 妝奩 /妆奁 (zhuānglián)property or payment given at time of marriage
Czech věno
- věnoproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Danish medgift
- medgiftproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Dutch bruidsschat
- bruidsschatproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Esperanto doto
- dotoproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Estonian kaasavara
- kaasavaraproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Finnish myötäjäiset
- myötäjäisetproperty or payment given at time of marriage
French dot
- dotproperty or payment given at time of marriage
German Aussteuer, Mitgift
- Aussteuerproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- Mitgiftproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- Brautschatzproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Greek προίκα
- προίκα (proíka)property or payment given at time of marriage
Hebrew נְדוּנְיָה
- נְדוּנְיָה (n'dúnya)property or payment given at time of marriage
Hindi दहेज़, दायजा
- दहेज़ (dahez)property or payment given at time of marriage
- दायजा (dāyjā)property or payment given at time of marriage
- महर (mahar)property or payment given at time of marriage
Hungarian hozomány
- hozományproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Indonesian harta sesan
- harta sesanproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Irish coibhche, crodh
- coibhcheproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- crodhproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- spréproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Italian dote
- doteproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Japanese 持参金
- 持参金 (jisankin)property or payment given at time of marriage
Korean 지참금, 혼수
- 지참금 (jichamgeum)property or payment given at time of marriage
- 혼수 (honsu)property or payment given at time of marriage
Latin dōs, marītāgium
- dōsproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- marītāgiumproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Latvian pūrs
- pūrsproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Lithuanian kraitis
- kraitisproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Malay hantaran kahwin
- hantaran kahwinproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Māori reperepe, tāpākūhā
- reperepeproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- tāpākūhāproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- pākū(w)hāproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Norwegian Bokmål medgift
- medgiftproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Persian جهیزیه, جهاز
- جهیزیه (jahiziyye)property or payment given at time of marriage
- جهاز (jahâz)property or payment given at time of marriage
- جهیز (jahiz)property or payment given at time of marriage
- مهر (mahr)property or payment given at time of marriage
- کابین (kâbin)property or payment given at time of marriage
Polish posag, wiano
- posagproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- wianoproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Portuguese dote
- doteproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Punjabi ਦਾਜ, داج
- ਦਾਜ (dāj)property or payment given at time of marriage
- داج (dāj)property or payment given at time of marriage
Romanian zestre, dotă
- zestreproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- dotăproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Russian прида́ное, ве́но
- прида́ное (pridánoje)property or payment given at time of marriage
- ве́но (véno)property or payment given at time of marriage
Slovak veno
- venoproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Spanish dote, prebenda
- doteproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- prebendaproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Swahili mahari
- mahariproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Swedish hemgift
- hemgiftproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Tagalog bigay-kaya, ubad
- bigay-kayaproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- ubadproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- doteproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Tamil வரதட்சணை, சீதனம்
- வரதட்சணை (varataṭcaṇai)property or payment given at time of marriage
- சீதனம் (cītaṉam)property or payment given at time of marriage
Thai สินสอด
- สินสอด (sǐn-sɔ̀ɔt)property or payment given at time of marriage
Turkish çeyiz, başlık
- çeyizproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- başlıkproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- drahomaproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Ukrainian по́саг, ви́права
- по́саг (pósah)property or payment given at time of marriage
- ви́права (výprava)property or payment given at time of marriage
- випра́ва (vypráva)property or payment given at time of marriage
- при́дане (prýdane)property or payment given at time of marriage
- прида́не (prydáne)property or payment given at time of marriage
- ві́но (víno)property or payment given at time of marriage
- діви́зна (divýzna)property or payment given at time of marriage
Urdu جہیز, دہیز
- جہیز (jahez)property or payment given at time of marriage
- دہیز (dahez)property or payment given at time of marriage
- مہر (mahr)property or payment given at time of marriage
Vietnamese của hồi môn
- của hồi mônproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Welsh gwaddol, argyfrau
- gwaddolproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- argyfrauproperty or payment given at time of marriage
- agweddiproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Yiddish נדן
- נדן (nadn)property or payment given at time of marriage
Zulu ilobolo
- iloboloproperty or payment given at time of marriage
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with dowry
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
dowry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dowry
MLA
“dowry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dowry. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dowry,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dowry.
Source: dowry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.