marry
/ˈmæɹi/verb
marry is spelled M-A-R-R-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,612th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “marry vs merry” about 480 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, marry means “To enter into the conjugal or connubial state; to take a husband or a wife” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in marry?
| Letters | 5: M-A-R-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 25 times per million words; the 3,612th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is marry?
Marry appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,612th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce marry?
- UK /ˈmæɹi/
- /ˈmæɹi/
- /ˈmɛɹi/
Marry has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ne-marry.ogg, En-us-marry.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with marry
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: mary.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with marry?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as marry from its last stressed vowel (/æɹi/, British pronunciation):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of marry
- marries present, singular, he/she/it
- marrying participle, present
- married participle, past
- mary
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does marry mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To enter into the conjugal or connubial state; to take a husband or a wife.
Neither of her daughters showed any desire to marry.
- 2
To enter into marriage with one another.
Jack and Jenny married soon after they met.
- 3
To take as husband or wife.
In some cultures, it is acceptable for an uncle to marry his niece.
- 4
To arrange for the marriage of; to give away as wife or husband.
He was eager to marry his daughter to a nobleman.
- 5
To unite in wedlock or matrimony; to perform the ceremony of joining spouses; to bring about a marital union according to the laws or customs of a place.
A justice of the peace will marry Jones and Smith.
- 6
To acquire by marriage.
I wanted to marry wealth and power, and got both.
- 7
To join or connect. See also marry up.
There’s a big gap here. These two parts don’t marry properly.
- 8
To unite; to join together into a close union.
The attempt to marry medieval plainsong with speed metal produced interesting results.
interjection
- 1
obsoleteA term of asseveration: indeed!, in truth!
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Marry in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | se marier , être marié , épouser , marier, accorder en mariage, accorder pour épouse |
| German | heiraten , in die Ehe geben , verheiraten |
| Portuguese | casar , dar em casamento, dar em matrimônio |
| Spanish | casar, casarse , casarse con , dar en matrimonio |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does marry come from?
From Middle English marien, from Anglo-Norman marïer, from Latin marītāre (“to wed”), from marītus (“husband, suitor”), from mās (“man, male”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *méryos (“young man”), same source as Sanskrit मर्य (márya, “suitor, young man”). Compare its feminine derivatives: Welsh morwyn (“girl”), merch (“daughter”), Crimean Gothic marzus (“wedding”), Ancient Greek μεῖραξ (meîrax, “boy; girl”), Lithuanian marti̇̀ (“bride”), Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 (maⁱriia, “yeoman”).) Displaced native Old English hīwian.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).