Definition of Bride Price
(noun) Money or property given to the family of the bride either by the groom or on his behalf.
Example of Bride Price
- Bride prices are still paid in parts of Papua New Guinea which was famously studied by Bronisław Malinowski (1884–1942).
Bride Price Pronunciation
Syllabification: bride price
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /brIEd prIEs/
- British English – /brIEd prIEs/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /braɪd praɪs/
- British English – /braɪd praɪs/
Usage Notes
- Plural: bride prices
- This is a simplified definition of a vast continuum of societal and cultural practices.
- A bride price is viewed as compensation to the bride’s family for the loss of her economic value in providing goods and services and a reflection of the grooms ability to provide for the bride and their offspring.
- Bride prices were famously studied by Bronisław Malinowski (1884–1942).
- In contrast to bride price, a dowry is the transfer of money or property from a woman’s parents to her husband when she gets married.
- Variant spellings:
- bride-price
- brideprice
- Also called:
- bride gift (bride-gift, bridegift)
- bride token
- bride wealth (bride-wealth, bridewealth)
- marriage payment
- progeny price
- reverse dowry (reverse-dowry)
Additional Information
- Family and Kinship Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “bride” and “price” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
- descent
- divorce
- endogamy
- exogamy
- extended family
- family
- family life cycle
- family of orientation
- family of procreation
- kinship
- marriage
Cite the Definition of Bride Price
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “bride price.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved September 29, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/bride-price/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
bride price. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/bride-price/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “bride price.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/bride-price/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“bride price.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 29 Sep. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/bride-price/>.