Wordwyrt

bedstead

Meaninga bed

Common meaning: supporting frame of a bed

‘a bed, a couch’ + ‘place’ → bedstead

Journey through time

  • bed — Old English bed “a bed, a couch” (path traced)
  • stead — Old English stede “place” (path traced)

Parts join in Old English as bed.

  1. Old Englishbed + stede‘a bed, a couch + place’source
  2. Old Englishbed‘a bed’sourceB&T
  3. Middle Englishmeaning shiftsa bed → bed placebedstede‘bed place’source
  4. Englishmeaning shiftsbed place → supporting frame of a bedbedstead‘supporting frame of a bed’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: not available. Respelling: generated.
  • US IPA: not available. Respelling: generated.

Origin: A compound: Skeat gives it as Old English bed ‘a bed, a couch’ + stede ‘place’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry BEDSTEAD, p. 56 · dictionary scan

Roots

  • bed Old English “a bed, a couch”
  • stede Old English “place”

Related words

bedstead

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app