# wif
## English
### Alternative forms

* wid, wiv (both informal)

### Etymology

Alteration of with.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: wĭf, IPA: /wɪf/
* Rhymes: -ɪf

### Preposition

wif
* (informal, dialectal, nonstandard) with
** 1998, Ted Shine, Contributions, →ISBN, page 31:That's what I mo' wear wif my shoes.
** 2000, Jan King, It'a A Girl Thing: The Hilarious Truth About Women, →ISBN, page 161:I been at the gym gettin' down wif my peeps.
** 2002, Stan Hayes, The Rough English Equivalent, →ISBN, page 324:If I don' have no problem wif my high school test?

### Anagrams

* IWF

## Mapudungun
### Adjective

wif (Raguileo spelling)
* long
* straight

### Adverb

wif (Raguileo spelling)
* directly

### Noun

wif (Raguileo spelling)
* irrigation ditch

### References

* Wixaleyiñ: Mapucezugun-wigkazugun pici hemvlcijka (Wixaleyiñ: Small Mapudungun-Spanish dictionary), Beretta, Marta; Cañumil, Dario; Cañumil, Tulio, 2008.

## Middle English
### Noun

wif
* Alternative form of wyf

## Old Dutch
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą.
Cognate with Old Frisian wīf, Old Saxon wīf, Old English wīf, Old High German wīb, Old Norse víf.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /wiːf/

### Noun

wīf n
* woman
** c. 1000 CE, Leiden Willeram;
    Thie thiernan sahon sie ande zaldon sie ze aller wivo saligostaThe girls saw her and counted her as the most fortunate of all women
** c. 1100 CE, Rhinelandic Rhyming Bible;
    Thure sinen bosen nith betroch er thaz arme wifBecause of his evil hate, he deceived that poor woman
* (rare) wife

#### Derived terms

* wīffardragan (“the kidnapping of a woman”)

#### Descendants

* Middle Dutch: wijf
** Dutch: wijf
*** Afrikaans: wyf
*** Jersey Dutch: wāif
*** Negerhollands: wief, wif
*** Skepi Creole Dutch: weef
*** Sranan Tongo: wefi
** Limburgish: wief
** West Flemish: wuuf
** Zealandic: wuuf

### References

“wīf”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

## Old English
### Alternative forms

* wīb

### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą, of uncertain origin.
Cognate with Old Frisian wīf, Old Saxon wīf, Old Dutch wīf, Old High German wīb, Old Norse víf.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /wiːf/

### Noun

wīf n
* woman
** c. 992, Ælfric, "The Annunciation of St. Mary"
    Ūs becōm dēaþ and forwyrd þurh wīf, and ūs becōm eft līf and hredding þurh wīfmann.Death and disaster came to us through a woman [Eve], and then life and salvation came to us through a woman [Mary].
** c. 990, Wessex Gospels, John 4:27
    His leornungcneohtas wundrodon þæt hē wiþ wīf spræc, þēah heora nān ne cwæþ “Hwæt sēcst þū?” oþþe “Hwæt spricst þū wiþ hīe?”His disciples were amazed that he was talking to a woman, though none of them said “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking to her?”
* female
** c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English
    Ǣġðer is mann ġe wer ġe wīf.A person is either a male or a female.
* wife
** The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
    Ōsrēd, þe wæs Norþanhymbra cining, æfter wræcsīþe hām cumenum ġelǣht wæs ⁊ ofslagen on XVIII Kƚ Octoƀ ⁊ his līc liġþ æt Tīnamūþe. ⁊ Æþelrēd cining feng tō nīwan wīfe, sēo wæs Ælflēd ġehāten, on III Kƚ Octobr̃.Osred, who was king of Northumbrian, was apprehended and slain on the 17th of October after coming home from his exile, and his body lies at Tynemouth. And King Aethelred took a new wife, whose name was Aelfled, on the third of October.
** late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy
    Swīðe wynsum hit biþ þæt man wīf hæbbe and bearn.It's very pleasant to have a wife and children.

#### Usage notes

* Since wīf is a grammatically neuter noun, all accompanying articles, determiners, and adjectives take neuter forms: þæt ealde wīf ("the old woman").
* However, pronouns referring back to wīf are almost always feminine: Ġesiehst þū þæt wīf sēo þǣr stent? Canst þū hīe? ("Do you see the woman who [feminine] is standing there? Do you know her?"). The same applies to the neuter word mæġden (“girl”) and the masculine word wīfmann (“woman”), whose grammatical genders also disagree with their natural genders.

#### Declension

Strong a-stem:

#### Antonyms

* wer (with respect to gender)

#### Derived terms

* wīfcynn (“womankind”)
* wīffrēond (“female friend”)
* wīfhād (“the female gender”)
* wīfhand (“a female inheritor; female side”)
* wīflēas (“wifeless”)
* wīflīċ (“female, feminine”)
* wīfmann (“woman”)
* wīfsċrūd (“women's clothing”)

#### Descendants

* Middle English: wyf, wife, wif, wiff, wiffe, wijf, wive, wyfe, wyff, wyve
** English: wife (see there for further descendants)
** Scots: wife

## Old Frisian
### Alternative forms

* wiif (Late Old Frisian)

### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą, of uncertain origin. Cognates include Old English wīf, Old Saxon wīf and Old Dutch wīf.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /wiːf/

### Noun

wīf n
* woman
* wife

#### Descendants

* North Frisian: wüf
* Saterland Frisian: Wieuw
* West Frisian: wiif

#### References

* Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

## Old Saxon
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wīb

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /wiːf/

### Noun

wīf n
* woman
** 9th c. Heliand, verse 2026-2027
    Te huī sprikis thū thes wīf, sō filu manos mī far thesoro mėnigi?Why do you speak of that, woman, so much (you) remind me pressingly in front of this crowd?

#### Descendants

* Middle Low German: wîf
** German Low German: Wiev
*** Low German: Wief

#### References

Köbler, Gerhard, Altsächsisches Wörterbuch (5th edition 2014)

## West Frisian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /vɪf/

### Adjective

wif
* shaky
* impermanent
* fickle, indecisive

#### Further reading

* “wif”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011