wife

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The woman a man is married to.

   He introduced me to his wife at the party.

2. 2
   verb

   To marry a woman.

   He had always hoped to wife the girl from his hometown.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Wife comes from Old English and originally meant simply “woman,” rather than specifically a married woman. That older sense survives in Scottish usage and in compounds such as fishwife and midwife.

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *wībą Proto-West Germanic *wīb Old English wīf Middle English wyf English wife Inherited from Middle English wyf, wif, from Old English wīf (“woman, wife”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą (“woman; wife”). Cognates Germanic cognates include Scots wife (“wife; woman”), North Frisian wuf, wüf (“wife, woman”), Saterland Frisian Wieuw (“woman; wife; female”), West Frisian wiif (“wife; woman”), Cimbrian baibe, baip (“wife; woman”), Dutch wijf (“woman; female”), German Weib (“woman; wife; female”), German Low German Wiev (“woman; female”), Mòche…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary