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dowry

UK/ˈdaʊəɹi/US/ˈdaʊəɹi/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,926 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: dowries

A dowry is money or goods a bride brings to a marriage. Pay a dowry, a large dowry, without a dowry.

It moves from the bride's family to the couple or the groom, which is the opposite of a bride price. It is illegal in India and still widely demanded, and dowry disputes are recorded as a cause of violence against women there and elsewhere.

Definitions of dowry

  1. 1noundowryMoney or goods a bride brings to a marriage.B2+

    “In the old days, a bride's family gave land or cattle as a dowry.”

dowry is a payment.

Where it comes from

Old French douaire comes from Latin dos, a marriage portion, from dare, to give.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *deh₃-

  2. Latin

    dōs

  3. Medieval Latin

    dōtārium

  4. Old French

    douaire

  5. Anglo-Norman

    dowarie

  6. Middle English

    dowarye

  7. English, today

    dowry

From Middle English dowarye, dowerie, from Anglo-Norman dowarie, douarie, from Old French douaire, from Medieval Latin dōtārium, from Latin dōs. a doublet of dower.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

dowry in the wild

  • Traditional dowry is an ancient custom that is mentioned in some of the earliest writings, and its existence may well predate records of it.

    Dowry

  • A form of dowry death, bride-burning occurs when a woman is murdered by her husband or his family for her family's refusal to pay additional dowry.

    Bride burning

  • According to Indian National Crime Record Bureau, there were 1,948 convictions and 3,876 acquittals in dowry death cases in 2008.

    Bride burning

  • In 2023, over 6,100 dowry-related deaths in India were reported and over 15,000 cases were recorded.

    Dowry death

  • Pakistan is predicted to have nearly 2000 dowry deaths occur every year.

    Dowry death

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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.