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Added 8 October 2026

bed

/bɛd/ symbol

In Latin: cubīle, lectus, torus Wiktionary

symbol Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about bed at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

ISO 639-3 language code for Bedoanas.

noun

A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
My cat often sleeps on my bed.
A mattress.
I find her bed too soft.
A bedframe.
That huge wood bed is too heavy for us to carry it that far.

verb

Senses relating to a bed as a place for resting or sleeping. To go to bed; to put oneself to sleep.
I usually listen to music before I bed.
To go to bed; to put oneself to sleep.
I usually listen to music before I bed.
To place in a bed.

Origin

Inherited from Middle English bed, bedde, from Old English bedd, from Proto-West Germanic *badi, from Proto-Germanic *badją (“resting-place, plot of ground”). Cognate with Scots bed, North Frisian baad, beed, Bēr, Saterland Frisian Bääd, West Frisian bêd, Cimbrian pett, Dutch bed, Dutch Low Saxon bedde, German Bett, Bette, German Low German Bedd, Luxembourgish Bett, Vilamovian bet, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål bed, Faroese and Icelandic beð, beður, Norwegian Nynorsk bed, bedd, Swedish bädd, Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌳𐌹 (badi), all meaning “bed”. The Proto-Germanic term may in turn be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig”) with various theories explaining the development in meaning.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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