bade

EN
verb

🇺🇸

/beɪd/

🇺🇸

/beɪd/

🇬🇧

/beɪd/

🇬🇧

/beɪd/

Word Forms

Past Tense

bade

Past Participle

bidden

Gerund

bidding

3rd Person

bids

Description

'Bade' is the old-fashioned past tense of 'bid', used mainly in literature, poetry, or solemn speech to mean 'commanded', 'asked earnestly', or 'invited'. Think of a king saying 'I bade you enter' — it sounds noble and timeless, not like everyday chat.

Examples

The queen bade the knight kneel before her.

He bade his children goodbye with quiet dignity.

She bade him sit beside her by the fire.

The teacher bade the class open their books to page 42.

They bade us welcome with warm smiles and fresh bread.

Root

bid

Comes from Old English 'biddan', meaning 'to ask, pray, entreat, or command'. It is a native Germanic root (not Latin or Greek), with cognates in Old Norse 'biðja' and Gothic 'bidjan'. Core semantic field includes requesting, ordering, and inviting. Examples include bid, bade, bidden, bidding, and forbidding.