betroth
Syllables: be·troth/bɪˈtɹəʊð//bəˈtɹoʊð/
betroth verb: of a man: to promise to take (a woman) as a future spouse; to plight one's troth to.
Verb
betroth (third-person singular simple present betroths, present participle betrothing, simple past betrothed, past participle betrothed or betrothen)
- Of a man: to promise to take (a woman) as a future spouse; to plight one's troth to.
- And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him goe and returne vnto his houſe, leſt he die in battel, and another man take her.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 20:7, signature [S5], verso, column 2
- Often of a parent or guardian: to promise that (two people) be married to each other; specifically and chiefly, to promise that (a woman) be given in marriage to a man; to affiance.
- He betrothed his daughter to a distant relative.
- The couple were betrothed not long after they met each other.
- Of God: to enter into a relationship with (believers, or the church as a whole); also, of a priest: to pledge (himself) to the church prior to being consecrated as a bishop.
- And I [God] will betroth thee [his people] vnto me foreuer; yea, I will betroth thee vnto me in righteouſneſſe, and in iudgement, and in louing kindneſſe, and in mercies. I will euen betroth thee vnto me in faithfulneſſe, and thou ſhalt know the Lord.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hosea 2:19–20, signature Eeee3, verso, column 2
- God betrotheth thee in righteouſnes, and putteth righteouſnes into thee; […]1643, Jer: Burroughes [i.e., Jeremiah Burroughs], “The Eighteenth Lecture. Hosea 2. 19.”, in An Exposition of the Prophesie of Hosea. […], London: […] W. E. and J. G. for R. Dawlman, →OCLC, page 643
- To pledge or promise oneself to (a cause); to espouse; also (sometimes reflexive), to pledge or promise (oneself or one's efforts) to a cause or to do something.
- To priuate fight they haue betroutht themſelues, / Of which conflicte, the end muſt needes be this, / That one do liue, that other die the death.1566, Euripides, “Iocasta: A Tragedie Written in Greke by Euripides, […]”, in George Gascoigne, Francis Kinwelmershe, transl., A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres Bounde up in One Small Poesie. […], London...
- [W]hat is he for a foole that betrothes himſelfe to vnquietneſſe?1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I...
betroth meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
betroth in Tamil
- மணஉறுதியினால் பிணைப்படுத்து
betroth in Urdu
- to betroth; seek for the hand in marriage
- مانگنا māṅgnā
betroth in Bengali
- বাগদান, বিবাহের প্রতিশ্রুতি দেওয়া
betroth in Malayalam
- വിവാഹനിശ്ചയം നടത്തുക
More languagesFewer languages
- betroth in Punjabi
- ਠਾਕਣਾ ṭhākăṇā, منگنا maṉgṇā
- betroth in Thai
- คู่หมั้น่
Examples of betroth in a sentence
- You to remoue that ſiege of griefe from her [Juliet] / Betrothd and vvould haue married her perforce / To Countie Paris.c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert...
- To me, O Bacchus thou betrothedſt Heaven: / Ah me! for heaven vvhat dovvries here are given!1640, Ovid, “The Third Book; or, March”, in John Gower, transl., Ovids Festivalls, or Romane Calendar, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […]...
- How! thou betrothest thee now to a second?1847, Göthe [i.e., Johann Wolfgang von Goethe], “Hermann and Dorothea. Urania. The Denoument.”, in W[illiam] W[hewell], transl., English...
- We loved each other at once, but she was betrothed to her guardian Ko-Ko, a cheap tailor, and I saw that my suit was hopeless.1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC...
Forms of betroth
| third-person singular present | betroths |
|---|---|
| present participle | betrothing |
| past | betrothed |
| past participle | betrothed |
| past participle | betrothen |
| third-person singular present | betrothes |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | betrothest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | betrothedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | betrotheth |
Origin of betroth
From Middle English bitrouthen, bitreuthen (“of a man: to pledge to marry; to give (a woman) in marriage, arrange the marriage of”), from bi- (prefix forming transitive verbs from nouns) + trouth, treuthe (“faithfulness, fidelity, specifically marital fidelity; promise, undertaking, specifically a promise of marriage; truth; etc.”) (from Old English trīewþ, trēowþ (“fidelity; good faith, honour; assurance of good faith, covenant, troth; truth”), from Proto-Germanic *triwwiþō (“contract; promise”), from Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree; hence, firm, hard; faithful, true”)), possibly modelled after Old English trēowsian (“to pledge oneself; to prove oneself to be true”)). By surface analysis, be- + troth.
Words formed from betroth
Words that rhyme with betroth
Questions about betroth
- What does betroth mean?
- Betroth means of a man: to promise to take (a woman) as a future spouse; to plight one's troth to.
- What is betroth in Tamil?
- Betroth in Tamil is மணஉறுதியினால் பிணைப்படுத்து. See Betroth meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use betroth in a sentence?
- You to remoue that ſiege of griefe from her [Juliet] / Betrothd and vvould haue married her perforce / To Countie Paris.
- What part of speech is betroth?
- Betroth is a verb.
- How do you pronounce betroth?
- Betroth is pronounced /bɪˈtɹəʊð/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of betroth?
- The past tense of betroth is betrothed.
Words near betroth in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: betroth (page history and authors); betroth (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); مانگنا (Urdu) (page history and authors); betroth (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); betroth (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); منگنا (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-betroth.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-betroth.wav.
Cite this entry: “betroth.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/betroth. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.