wifely

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   of, relating to, or traditionally regarded as characteristic of a wife; now often old-fashioned

   The memoir questions the period's narrow expectations of wifely duty.

Inherited from Middle English wifly and Old English wiflic, formed from wif, "woman or wife," + -lic, "having the form or character of." The modern ending -ly continues that Old English suffix. Cognates include Dutch wijfelijk and German weiblich.

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