# dowry
## English
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈdaʊəɹi/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) IPA: /ˈdaʊɹi/
* Rhymes: -aʊəɹi, -aʊɹi

### Noun

dowry (countable and uncountable, plural dowries)
* Payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage.
* (less common) Payment by the groom or his family to the bride's family: bride price.
** 2009, Peter Uvin, Life after Violence: A People's Story of Burundi, page 125:The family of the groom makes sure the new couple has a house to live in and land to cultivate; they will also pay for the dowry (crucial, for without dowry the new father has no rights over his children; Trouwborst 1962: 136ff.)
* (obsolete) Dower.
* A natural gift or talent.
* (informal) A large amount.
** 1928, E. M. Forster, The Eternal Moment
    But no palace had so fair a ceiling; for from the wooden beams were suspended a whole dowry of copper vessels—pails, cauldrons, water pots, of every colour from lustrous black to the palest pink.

#### Antonyms

* dower
* bride price

#### Hypernyms

* marriage-portion

#### Hyponyms

* (bride price): lobola

#### Derived terms

* antidowry
* dowry death
* dowryless
* reverse dowry

#### Related terms

* dowager
* endow

#### Translations

Afrikaans: bruidsprys, lobola (af)
Albanian: pajë (sq), prikë (sq)
Ancient Greek: προίξ (proíx)
Arabic: دُوطَة f (dūṭa), مَهْر m (mahr) (Islamic mahr)
Egyptian Arabic: مهر m (mahr)
Armenian: օժիտ (hy) (ōžit)
Azerbaijani: cehiz (az)
Belarusian: паса́г m (pasáh), выпра́ва f (vypráva), ве́на n (vjéna) (historical)
Bengali: যৌতুক (bn) (jōutuk)
Breton: argouroù (br) pl
Bulgarian: зе́стра (bg) f (zéstra), при́дан (bg) m (prídan), чеи́з (bg) m (čeíz), вено́ n (venó), ве́но n (véno)
Burmese: ခန်းဝင်ပစ္စည်း (my) (hkan:wangpaccany:)
Catalan: dot (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 嫁妝 / 嫁妆 (zh) (jiàzhuāng), 陪嫁 (zh) (péijià), 陪送 (zh) (péisong), 妝奩 / 妆奁 (zh) (zhuānglián)
Czech: věno (cs) n
Danish: medgift c
Dutch: bruidsschat (nl) m
Egyptian: (grgt f)
Esperanto: doto
Estonian: kaasavara
Finnish: myötäjäiset (fi) pl
French: dot (fr) f
Galician: dote (gl) m
Georgian: მზითევი (ka) (mzitevi)
German: Aussteuer (de) f; Mitgift (de) f, Brautschatz m
Greek: προίκα (el) f (proíka)
Ancient: προίξ f (proíx), φερνή f (phernḗ)
Hebrew: נְדוּנְיָה (he) f (n'dúnya)
Hindi: दहेज़ m (dahez), जहेज़ m (jahez), महर (hi) m (mahar) (Islamic mahr)
Hungarian: hozomány (hu)
Ido: doto (io), doario (io)
Indonesian: mas kawin, mahar (id)
Irish: coibhche f, crodh m, spré f
Italian: dote (it) f
Japanese: 持参金 (ja) (じさんきん, jisankin)
Kannada: ವರದಕ್ಷಿಣೆ (kn) (varadakṣiṇe)
Kazakh: жасау (kk) (jasau)
Khmer: ជំនូន (km) (cumnuun)
Korean: 지참금(持參金) (ko) (jichamgeum), 혼수(婚需) (ko) (honsu)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: next (ku) m, qelen (ku) m, cihêz (ku)
Kyrgyz: сеп (ky) (sep)
Latin: dōs (la) f, marītāgium n
Latvian: pūrs (lv) m
Lithuanian: kraitis m
Luxembourgish: Dott f
Macedonian: мираз m (miraz), чеиз m (čeiz), приќе n (priḱe)
Malay: mahar (ms), mas kahwin (ms)
Malayalam: സ്ത്രീധനം (ml) (strīdhanaṁ)
Manchu: ᡶᡠᡩᡝᡥᡝ ᠵᠠᡴᠠ (fudehe jaka)
Maori: reperepe, tāpākūhā
Marathi: हुंडा (huṇḍā)
Marwari: देज (dej)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: medgift m or f
Nynorsk: medgift f
Old East Slavic: вѣно n (věno)
Persian: جهیزیه (fa) (jahiziyye), جهاز (fa) (jahâz), جهیز (fa) (jahiz), مهر (fa) (mahr) (Islamic mahr), کابین (fa) (kâbin)
Plautdietsch: Brutpriess m
Polabian: madgit m
Polish: posag (pl) m, wiano (pl) n
Portuguese: dote (pt) m
Punjabi:
Gurmukhi: ਦਾਜ m (dāj)
Shahmukhi: داج m (dāj)
Romanian: zestre (ro), dotă (ro) f
Russian: прида́ное (ru) n (pridánoje), ве́но (ru) n (véno) (historical)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: мираз m, вијено n, женинство n, прћија f
Roman: miraz (sh) m, vijeno n, ženinstvo n, prćija f
Slovak: veno n
Slovene: dota (sl) f
Sotho: lobola
Spanish: dote (es) m or f, prebenda (es) f
Swahili: mahari (sw)
Swedish: hemgift (sv) c
Tagalog: bigay-kaya, ubad
Tajik: ҷиҳоз (jihoz), маҳр (mahr) (Islamic mahr)
Tamil: வரதட்சணை (ta) (varataṭcaṇai), சீதனம் (ta) (cītaṉam)
Telugu: కట్నం (te) (kaṭnaṁ), వరకట్నం (te) (varakaṭnaṁ)
Thai: สินสอด (th) (sǐn-sɔ̀ɔt)
Turkish: çeyiz (tr), başlık (tr), drahoma (tr) (for Jews and Christians in Turkey)
Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎅𐎗 (mhr)
Ukrainian: по́саг m (pósah), ви́права f (výprava), випра́ва f (vypráva), при́дане n (prýdane), прида́не n (prydáne), ві́но n (víno) (historical), діви́зна f (divýzna) (archaic)
Urdu: جہیز m (jahez), دہیز m (dahez), مہر m (mahr) (Islamic mahr)
Uzbek: sep (uz), mahr (uz) (Islamic mahr)
Vietnamese: của hồi môn
Volapük: jigamagivot (vo)
Welsh: gwaddol m, argyfrau pl (archaic), agweddi m (obsolete)
Yiddish: נדן m (nadn)
Zulu: ilobolo class 5/6 :

#### References

* (large amount): John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary

### Verb

dowry (third-person singular simple present dowries, present participle dowrying, simple past and past participle dowried)
* To bestow a dowry upon.
** 1999, Judith Everard, Michael C. E. Jones, Charters Duchess Constance Br, page xvi:
** 2013, Noreen Giffney, Margrit Shildrick, Theory on the Edge: Irish Studies and the Politics of Sexual Difference, page 62:
** 1911, Aida Rodman De Milt, Ways and Days Out of London, page 108:1976, Graham Anderson, Studies in Lucian's Comic Fiction, Page 19

### See also

* glory box
* hope chest
* trousseau

### References

* ↑ Gary Ferraro & Susan Andreatta, Cultural Anthropology, 8th edn. (Belmont, Cal: Wadsworth, 2010), 223.

### Anagrams

* rowdy, wordy

## Middle English
### Noun

dowry
* Alternative form of dowarye