Differences between свадьба, венчание, бракосочетание, брак, женитьба?

Asked by John on October 10, 2018

Question

What, if anything, is the difference between the following words: свадьба, венчание, бракосочетание, брак, женитьба.
Is the word "венчание" only used for Orthodox church weddings or could you also use it for a civil wedding in ЗАГС?

Answer

Hello! Свадьба is the wedding procedure (all the celebrations), венчание is an Orthdox church wedding only, бракосочетание and брак normally mean Civil wedding in ЗАГС. However, брак can also mean "the married status", it is quite a formal expression. Женитьба is a synonym of свадьба, but it is not widely used in everyday modern speech.

Наша свадьба была пракрасна. We had an excellent wedding.

Венчание состоялось в маленькой церкви. The church wedding took place in a small church.

Церемония бракосочетания была роскошной. The (civil) wedding ceremony was posh.

Они прожили в браке 20 лет. They were married for 20 years.

Одна из пьес Гоголя называется "Женитьба". One of Gogol's plays is called "Marriage".

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