The feminine noun νυμφη (numphe), meaning bride, and the masculine noun νυμφιος (numphios), meaning bridegroom, ultimately derive from a widely attested Proto-Indo-European root sneubh-, meaning to marry — to betroth in Slovak is zasnubit, to marry in Russian is zhenit'sya, and in Latin it's nupto, hence our English adjective "nuptial". Our English word "nymph" is a direct transliteration of our Greek word for bride.

The feminine noun νυμφη (numphe), meaning bride, occurs 8 times in the New Testament; see full concordance. In Matthew 10:35 and Luke 12:53 it's used in the sense of daughter-in-law. Four times in Revelation our word denotes the people of God. The masculine noun νυμφιος (numphios), meaning bridegroom, occurs 16 times; see full concordance.

Note that the Hebrew word for bride, כלה (kallah), closely resembles the verb כלה (kalah), meaning to bring to completion. This latter verb is closely related to the verb כלל (kalal I), meaning to be or make whole or perfect, from whence derives the noun כל (kal), meaning all (the Hebrew equivalent of the familiar Greek word παντα, panta).