What does wed mean?
“Wed” is a verb meaning to marry or to become married. Its direct use can sound formal, literary, or traditional: “They wed in a small chapel.” It can be transitive, taking a person as its object, as in “He wed his childhood sweetheart,” or appear in the common informal phrase “get wed,” meaning “get married.” The phrase is especially associated with British English, although it is understood in American English too. Outside the phrase “get wed,” “wed” is less frequent in everyday conversation than the more general words “marry” and “get married.” Its history connects it with an Old English word for marrying and with an older Germanic and Indo-European tradition of pledging or binding oneself. The related words “wedding” and “wedlock” preserve the same formal and ceremonial associations. “Wed” is therefore both a concise literary verb and a familiar part of idiomatic speech.
verbTo marry someone, or to become married. The word is especially formal or literary in its direct use, while the phrase “get wed” is informal and common in British English.
- To marry someone, or to become married.
"The couple were wed in a small chapel by the sea."
"They wed in a small chapel after the war."
"The couple are planning to get wed next month."
A compact word with a long history, “wed” survives most visibly in the informal British phrase “get wed,” where it simply means to get married.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does wed come from?
The word descends through Middle English from Old English “weddian,” meaning “to marry.” Its deeper history is associated with the Indo-European root meaning “to pledge” or “to bind,” which also underlies words such as “wager” and the Latin “vadum.” In English, the older sense of pledging oneself developed into the established sense of marrying, while related forms such as “wedding” and “wedlock” continued to carry formal associations.
Related word forms
How wed is actually used
Direct uses of “wed” often have a formal, literary, or traditional tone, as in “the newly wed couple.” In British English, “get wed” is widely used informally to mean “get married”; in American English, “get married” is more usual.
Easily confused with wed
“Wed” means to marry, whereas “we'd” is the contraction of “we would” or “we had.”