# concubine
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English concubine (first attested 1250–1300), from Anglo-Norman concubine, from Latin concubīna, equivalent to concub- (variant stem of concumbō (“to lie together”)) + feminine suffix -īna.

### Pronunciation

* (US) IPA: /ˈkɑŋkjəbaɪn/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

concubine (plural concubines)
* A sexual partner, especially a woman, to whom one is not or cannot be married.
    Synonyms: mistress, sprunk; see also Thesaurus:sexual partner, Thesaurus:mistress
* A woman who lives with a man, but who is not a wife.
    Synonyms: cohabitor, cohabitant, domestic partner
** c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:And that is more than I will yield unto: / I know I am too mean to be your queen, / And yet too good to be your concubine.
* (chiefly historical) A slave-girl or woman, kept for instance in a harem, who is held for sexual service.
    Synonym: odalisque
** c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:He ſhall be made a chaſte and luſtleſſe Eunuch, And in my Sarell tend my Concubines:
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 20:4–6:And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead. And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.
** c. 1909, Mark Twain, “Letter VIII”, in Letters from the Earth:Solomon, who was one of the Deity's favorities, had a copulation cabinet composed of seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.

#### Derived terms

* concubinage
* concubinal
* concubinary
* mancubine

#### Translations
### See also

* harem
* polygamy
* co-wife
* seraglio

### References

* Random House Unabridged Dictionary
* “concubine”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

## Dutch
### Etymology

From Middle Dutch concubine, from Middle French concubine, from Old French [Term?], from Latin concubīna.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˌkɔŋ.kyˈbi.nə/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: con‧cu‧bi‧ne
* Rhymes: -inə

### Noun

concubine f (plural concubines or concubinen, masculine concubaan or concubant)
* concubine
    Synonyms: bijvrouw, bijwijf, bijzit, bijzitster
* (Suriname) female partner in a common-law marriage

#### Derived terms

* concubinaat

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin concubīna.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kɔ̃.ky.bin/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

concubine f (plural concubines, masculine concubin)
* cohabitant, female domestic partner
* concubine

### Further reading

* “concubine”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kon.kuˈbi.ne/
* Rhymes: -ine
* Hyphenation: con‧cu‧bì‧ne

### Noun

concubine f
* plural of concubina

## Latin
### Noun

concubīne
* vocative singular of concubīnus

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* concubyne, concubyn, concubin

### Etymology

From Anglo-Norman concubine, from Latin concubīna.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kɔnkiu̯ˈbiːn(ə)/

### Noun

concubine (plural concubines)
* A concubine; a secondary female partner.
* (rare) A illegitimate or unacknowledged partner (male or female)

#### Descendants

* English: concubine

#### References

* “concūbīn(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.