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)

1. 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.

2. (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

• always a bridesmaid, never a bride
• brosmaid
• junior bridesmaid

 

Related terms

• bridesmaiden
• bridesmatron

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

See also

• maid of honor (the primary bridesmaid)
• bridesmaids (the group of women as a whole)

Verb

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

1. 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