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bridal

UK/ˈbraɪ.dl̩/US/ˈbɹaɪd(ə)l/
adjectiveB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,136 of 15,258leans spoken

Bridal means to do with a bride or a wedding. Bridal gown, the bridal party, bridal shop.

It looks like bride plus -al, and it is not: the word was bride-ale, the wedding feast, and the ending is the same ale that meant a celebration. The adjective was made by mistaking the noun's ending for a suffix. Note bridle, the horse's headgear, which is a different word.

Charles W. Lindner, active 1890-1894 in Chicago · Public domain

Definitions of bridal

  1. 1adjectivebridalTo do with a bride or a wedding.B2

    “She tried on dozens of dresses at the bridal shop before she found the one.”

bridal is a quality of weddings.

Where it comes from

Old English brydealo means bride-ale, the wedding feast. The -al ending was mistaken for a suffix and an adjective grew from it.

  1. Old English

    brȳdealo — wedding ale; wedding feast

  2. Middle English

    bridale

  3. English, today

    bridal

From Middle English bridale, from Old English brȳdealo (“wedding ale; wedding feast”). The attributive usage was strengthened by association with bride + al.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Word Building

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bridal in the wild

  • A wedding dress or bridal gown is the dress worn by the bride during a wedding ceremony.

    Wedding dress

  • The chorus is sung in Lohengrin by the women of the wedding party after the ceremony, as they accompany the heroine Elsa to her bridal chamber.

    Bridal Chorus

  • A bridal shower is a gift-giving party held for a bride-to-be in anticipation of her wedding.

    Bridal shower

  • Since the turn of the 21st century, the traditional concept of the bridal registry has evolved.

    Wedding registry

  • In the UK, bridal registries are more commonly known as wedding lists.

    Wedding registry

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • bride