Meanings
plural morning gifts · alternative morning-gift
- A gift traditionally given in some (especially Germanic) cultures by the husband to his wife on the first morning after they were married.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*murgnagebō“morning gift”
- Old Englishmorgenġifu
- Middle Englishmorgengive
- Englishmorning gift
Normalisation (after morning and gift) of Middle English morgengive, morhȝive, from Old English morgenġifu, morgenġiefu (“morning gift”), from Proto-Germanic *murgnagebō (“morning gift”), equivalent to morning + gift. Cognate with Dutch morgengave (“morning gift”), German Morgengabe (“morning gift”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 晨禮 /晨礼
- 晨禮 /晨礼 (chén lǐ)gift given by husband to wife upon first morning of marriage
Danish morgengave
- morgengavegift given by husband to wife upon first morning of marriage
Dutch morgengave
- morgengavegift given by husband to wife upon first morning of marriage
Finnish huomenlahja
- huomenlahjagift given by husband to wife upon first morning of marriage
German Morgengabe
- Morgengabegift given by husband to wife upon first morning of marriage
Italian morgengabio
- morgengabiogift given by husband to wife upon first morning of marriage
Norwegian Bokmål morgengave
- morgengavegift given by husband to wife upon first morning of marriage
Norwegian Nynorsk morgongåve
- morgongåvegift given by husband to wife upon first morning of marriage
Swedish morgongåva
- morgongåvagift given by husband to wife upon first morning of marriage
Cite this entry
morning gift. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morning%20gift
“morning gift.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morning%20gift. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “morning gift,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morning%20gift.
Source: morning gift on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.