matrimony

English[edit]

From Old French matremoine, from Latin mātrimōnium (“marriage, wedlock”), from māter (“mother”) + -mōnium (“obligation”). Also matri- +‎ -mony. Compare patrimony.

matrimony (countable and uncountable, plural matrimonies)

(uncountable) Marriage; the state of being married.
- 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC:
  If either of you know any impediment, why ye may not be lawfully joined together in matrimony, ye do now confess it.
- 1920 April, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book II (The Education of a Personage), page 255:
  […] you can play around with girls without being involved in meshes of sentiment, and you can do anything and be justified—and here am I with the brains to do everything, yet tied to the sinking ship of future matrimony.
(countable) The ceremony of marriage.
(uncountable) A particular solitaire card game using two decks of cards.

marriage or the state of being married — see also marriage

Armenian: ամուսնություն (hy) (amusnutʻyun)
Bulgarian: брак (bg) m (brak), съпружество n (sǎpružestvo)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 婚姻 (zh) (hūnyīn)
Danish: ægteskab (da) n
Esperanto: edzeco (eo)
Finnish: avioliitto (fi)
French: mariage (fr) m
German: Ehe (de) f
Greek: γάμος (el) m (gámos), κοινωνία γάμου f (koinonía gámou)
Hungarian: házasság (hu), matrimónium
Italian: matrimonio (it) m
Latin: mātrimōnium (la) n, coniugium n
Latvian: laulība f
Persian: تأهل (fa) (ta'ahhol)
Polish: związek małżeński (pl) m
Portuguese: matrimónio (pt) (Portugal), matrimônio (pt) (Brazil)
Russian: брак (ru) m (brak), супру́жество (ru) n (suprúžestvo), заму́жество (ru) n (zamúžestvo) (of women only)
Sicilian: matrimoniu (scn) m
Turkish: nikâh (tr)

marriage ceremony — see also wedding