Does 結ぶ refer to sex or intimate relations?


Was watching a drama and in the episode following a progress in a relationship
where the main character finally kissed her boyfriend, her mother asked her
"__君と結ばれたのね".

The characters were shown in the next episode to be sleeping in the same bed,
dressed, in the next episode where previously the guy slept on a futon while
she slept on his bed. Apart from that line, nothing else was mentioned or
hinted. The show is not sexual at all so pretty unlikely but wondering if
there's a possibility it means that.

Or can Musubu just mean getting closer? The mother already knew they were
dating so the sudden question about bonding closer out of the blue and the
character being surprised is just weird imo if it truly was non-sexual. Can
one even date without being bonded? If anyone is bothered/interested, it is
16:12 of this episode. <https://dramacool.vc/35sai-no-shoujo-episode-7.html>




This is somewhat an euphemistic word that can mean any progress related to
love, from successfully starting a relationship to a marriage. What concrete
event it refers to depends on the context.

I watched only a few minutes of the drama, but 結ばれる in this scene seems to
refer to something between 付き合い始める and 結婚する. Sleeping in the same bed is
certainly one of the events 結ばれる can signify, and that may be why the daughter
was surprised, but basically 結ばれたのね by itself is fairly vague.

Here's 明鏡国語辞典's definition:

> ### 結ぶ
>
> 別々の体や心をつないで離れないようにする。結び合わせる。
> 「愛情が二人の心をしっかりと━」「二人は強固な信頼感で━・ばれている」「めでたく━・ばれる（＝愛が成就じょうじゅする・結婚する）」
>
> 【語法】受身の形が多い。また、「親交を━」のように、～ヲに〈結果〉をとる言い方もある。深い交わりを作り出す意。

