Phrase guide

bedtime story

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈbɛdtaɪm ˈstɔːɹi/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A story, e.g. a fairy tale, told or read to somebody, usually a child, before they sleep.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: قِصَّةٌ قَبْلَ النَوْمِ (qiṣṣatun qabla n-nawmi) — story for children before they sleep
  • Chinese Mandarin: 睡前故事 (shuìqián gùshì) — story for children before they sleep
  • Czech: pohádka na dobrou noc — story for children before they sleep
  • Dutch: verhaaltje voor het slapengaan — story for children before they sleep
  • Dutch: verhaaltje — story for children before they sleep
  • Esperanto: antaŭdorma rakonto — story for children before they sleep
  • Estonian: unejutt — story for children before they sleep
  • Finnish: iltasatu — story for children before they sleep
  • French: histoire du soir — story for children before they sleep
  • French: histoire — story for children before they sleep
  • French: histoire pour s'endormir — story for children before they sleep
  • German: Gutenachtgeschichte — story for children before they sleep
  • Greek: παραμύθι (paramýthi) — story for children before they sleep
  • Hungarian: esti mese — story for children before they sleep
  • Italian: favola della buonanotte — story for children before they sleep
  • Italian: storia della buonanotte — story for children before they sleep
  • Italian: racconto della buonanotte — story for children before they sleep
  • Japanese: 寝物語 (nemonogatari) — story for children before they sleep
  • Polish: bajka na dobranoc — story for children before they sleep
  • Russian: ска́зка на́ ночь (skázka ná nočʹ) — story for children before they sleep
  • Slovak: príbeh na dobrú noc — story for children before they sleep
  • Swedish: godnattsaga — story for children before they sleep