Bid (irregular verb)

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'To bid' is an irregular verb. Its forms are given here:

Base form past tense -ed participle Remarks
bid
(1) bid
(2) bad or bade

(1) bid
(2) bidden
'bid' means
(1)'to offer'
(2) 'to order', 'to wish'.
See also forbid
pronounced IPA: /bæd/ or /beɪd/.
This is one of the "the 250 or so irregular verbs" listed in Quirk 1985. The list "contains most of the irregular verbs in present-day English ... but is not meant to be exhaustive, particularly with regard to derivative verbs." AWE has copied most of the entries in that list. The verb 'to bid' belongs to Quirk's Class 5
The past tense form may now be written either bad or bade. In both spellings, the pronunciation to be preferred is like the adjective bad, meaning 'not good' - IPA/bæd/. The pronunciation /beɪd/, to rhyme with 'made', 'shade', which can be heard, is a 'reading pronunciation', formed by the misunderstanding that the final '-e-' was originally silent; although early writers may have intended a division into two syllables, 'BAD-uh', /ˈbæd ə/.



The use of the forms bid, bade, bidden is 'rather archaic style' Quirk 1985.

For a note on the (complex) meanings and history of this word, go to bid (meaning), and for a further subtle note to bidding prayer.