student asking question

The word "marry" means a marriage. And the word "merry" means happiness. Since these words have a similar pronunciation, are these words somewhat related?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

That's an interesting question! I can see why you think they would be related, but they're actually completely different. "Marry" comes from Latin and French origins, whereas "merry" has Germanic origins. They just happen to be spelled similarly. Ex: Her laugh was merry and full of sincerity. Ex: Are you going to ask her to marry you?

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