bridesmaid

See also: bride's maid

English

A wedding party including three bridesmaids, ca. 1936

Alternative forms

bridemaid (archaic)
bride's maid

Etymology

From bride +‎ -s- +‎ maid. Sports/entertainment sense: in reference to the saying always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈbɹaɪdzˌmeɪd/
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Noun

bridesmaid (plural bridesmaids)

A woman who attends a bride during her wedding ceremony, as part of the main wedding party.
I'd love to be your bridesmaid at the wedding.
- 1994, Richard Curtis, Four Weddings and a Funeral, spoken by Lydia (Sophie Thompson):
  I was promised sex. Everybody said it. You'll be a bridesmaid, you'll get sex, you'll be fighting 'em off. But not so much as a tongue in sight.
(sports, entertainment, social dynamics) A person or team that perennially finishes well, but never first.
- 2023, Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, page 319:
  He had taken her for a dogsbody, a beta fish, a bridesmaid, a ride-along; he had looked right past her, as likely many people did.

Coordinate terms

bridesman

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

woman who attends the bride at a wedding ceremony

Afrikaans: strooimeisie
Armenian: հարսնաքույր (hy) (harsnakʻuyr)
Bulgarian: шаферка f (šaferka)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 伴娘 (zh) (bànniáng), 女儐相／女傧相 (zh) (nǚbīnxiàng)
Czech: družička f
Danish: brudepige c
Esperanto: fianĉamikino
Faroese: brúðkona f
Finnish: morsiusneito (fi)
French: demoiselle d’honneur (fr) f
German: Brautjungfer (de) f
Greek: παράνυμφος c (paránymfos)
Hiligaynon: abay
Hungarian: koszorúslány (hu)
Irish: cailín coimhdeachta m
Italian: damigella d'onore f
Japanese: ブライズメイド (buraizumeido), 花嫁介添人 (はなよめかいぞえにん, hanayome kaizoenin), 介添人 (かいぞえにん, kaizoenin)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: berbûk (ku) f
Macedonian: деверица f (deverica)
Norman: fil'ye d'honneu f (Jersey)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: brudepike m or f, forlover m
Polish: druhna (pl) f
Portuguese: dama de honra f
Romanian: domnișoară de onoare (ro) f
Russian: подру́жка неве́сты f (podrúžka nevésty), подру́жка (ru) f (podrúžka), дру́жка (ru) m or f (drúžka), свиде́тельница (ru) f (svidételʹnica), подневе́стница (ru) f (podnevéstnica)
Scottish Gaelic: maighdean-phòsaidh f
Serbo-Croatian: deveruša (sh) f
Slovak: družica f
Spanish: dama de honor f
Sundanese: ᮕᮌᮛᮚᮥ (pagarayu)
Swedish: brudtärna (sv) c
Tagalog: dama sa kasal, abay sa kasal
Telugu: తోడిపెండ్లికూతురు (tōḍipeṇḍlikūturu)
Thai: เพื่อนเจ้าสาว
Turkish: nedime (tr)
Vietnamese: phù dâu (vi)

person or team that perennially finishes well, but never first

Finnish: ikuinen kakkonen

Verb

bridesmaid (third-person singular simple present bridesmaids, present participle bridesmaiding, simple past and past participle bridesmaided)

To act as a bridesmaid for; to attend a bride during her wedding ceremony.
- 1858, Anthony Trollope, Doctor Thorne‎^[1], volume 1, page 83:
  "No, Trichy; I won't be Augusta's bridesmaid; I'll bide my time for bridesmaiding."
- 1915, George Jean Nathan, Henry Louis Mencken, The smart set: a magazine of cleverness, volume 45, page 204:
  And what's this? that isn't Herbie Frost with you in the canoe ; why he was best man when I bridesmaided Corinne.
- 1989, Kevin Killian, Shy‎^[2], page 233:
  "It's in my Data-fax, right here! December Bride: and I'm supposed to bridesmaid!"
- 2007, Siri Agrell, Bad Bridesmaid: True Tales of Bachelorette Brawls and Taffeta Tantrums‎^[3], page 150:
  After ten years of friendship and just six months of lackluster bridesmaiding, the women did not even get an invitation to the wedding.
- 2010, Mark Townsend, Jesus Outside the Box: Twelve Spiritual Tales of the Unexpected‎^[4], page 308:
  Still they bridesmaided for her.

Translations

act as a bridesmaid (for)

Finnish: toimia morsiusneitona
Irish: seas le
Swedish: vara brudtärna (sv)

Anagrams

bridemaids