wife
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /wæf/
ipa: /waɪf/
rhymes: -aɪf
Forms: form: wives
Etymology: 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”).
Germanic cognates include Scots wife (“wife, woman”), North Frisian wüf (“wife, woman”), Saterland Frisian Wieuw (“woman, lady, female”), West Frisian wiif (“wife, woman”), Cimbrian baip, baibe (“wife, woman”), Dutch wijf (“woman, female”), German Weib (“woman, wife, female”), German Low German Wiev (“woman, female”), Mòcheno baib (“woman”), Vilamovian bow (“wife, woman”), Yiddish ווײַב (vayb, “wife, woman”) Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish viv (“wife, woman”), Faroese vív (“wife, woman”), Icelandic víf (“wife, woman”).
The further etymology is unknown, with a number of disputed suggestions. One suggestion connects Tocharian A/B kip/kwīpe (“genitals, female pudenda”), for a hypothetical Indo-European *gʰwíbʰ- (“pudenda”).
Another suggestion connects Old English wǣfan (“wrap, clothe”), Old Norse vífa (“wrap, veil”) for a suggested original motive of "married woman wearing a scarf".
Yet another suggestion connects Old High German weibōn (“move to and fro”), Old Norse veifa (“swing, throw”), for a motive of "one who is moving busily; housekeeper, maidservant" (cf. German Weibel (“manservant, usher”)).
Senses: examples: text: The Fisherman and His Wife
text: And I geue vnto the ſame Elizabeth my wif the ſparuers and hangings of the ſame twoo beddes vſuallye occupied, and hanging ouer and about the ſame twoo beddes[…]
ref: 1558 April 29, Sir William Drurye, Will of Sir William Drurye [of Hawstede, Suffolk], Prerogative Court of Canterbury, page 1:
text: It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: 1952, P. G. Wodehouse, Big Business, in 'A Few Quick Ones', Everyman, London: 2009, p 127-8.
All through Reginald's deeply moving performance she had sat breathless, her mind in a whirl and her soul stirred to her very depths. With each low note that he pulled up from the soles of his shoes she could feel the old affection and esteem surging back into her with a whoosh, and long before he had taken his sixth bow she knew ... that it would be madness to try to seek happiness elsewhere, particularly as the wife of a man with large ears and no chin, who looked as if he were about to start in the two-thirty race at Kempton Park.
text: Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives. To examine this manifestation of religious fandom, I will first discuss the canon scepticism and anti-Rowling sentiment that helps to contextualise the wider belief in Snape as a character who extends beyond book and film.
ref: 2014 March 3, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions, volume 5, number 1, MDPI, →DOI, pages 219–257:
glosses: A married woman, especially in relation to her spouse.
examples: text: A new wife for the gander is introduced into the pen.
text: I stepped out and advanced valiantly upon a long-maned bull in the midst of his wives. I was armed with the regular club with which the boat-pullers killed the wounded seals gaffed aboard by the hunters.
ref: 1904, Jack London, chapter 30, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC:
glosses: The female of a pair of mated animals.
qualifier: otherwise puristic
glosses: Synonym of woman.
synonyms: word: woman
Synonyms: sense: married woman
word: little woman
word: ball and chain
word: better half
word: boss
word: bride
word: dutch
word: 'er indoors
word: frow
word: geezer
word: her indoors
word: lady
word: little lady
word: memsahib
word: missus
word: old lady
word: old woman
word: trouble
word: trouble and strife
word: wife
word: wifekin
word: wifelet
word: wifeling
word: wifey
Hypernyms: word: better half
word: life partner
word: partner
word: significant other
word: spouse
word: wedder
word: lover
Hyponyms: word: grey mare
word: housewife
Derived terms: word: aad wife
word: all the world and his wife
word: apple-wife
word: archwife
word: bamboo wife
word: blue star wife
word: brother's wife
word: Caesar's wife
word: Caesar's wife must be above suspicion
word: cockle wife
word: country wife
word: cyberwife
word: Deppford wife
word: devil is beating his wife and marrying his daughter
word: devil is kissing his wife
word: devil's beating his wife
word: Dutch wife
sense: from woman
word: alewife
word: gold star wife
word: husband and wife
word: ice wife
word: I now declare you man and wife
word: Lot's wife
word: mob wife
word: orange-wife
word: oyster wife
sense: partner
word: co-wife
word: cowife
sense: partner
word: ex-wife
word: ex wife
sense: partner
word: housewife
sense: partner
word: huswife
sense: partner
word: man and wife
sense: partner
word: trophy wife
sense: partner
word: wifebeater
word: wife-beater
word: wife beater
sense: partner
word: wifeless
sense: partner
word: wifey
word: plural wife
word: prison wife
word: seawife
word: side-wife
word: sister-wife
word: spaewife
word: Stepford wife
word: take a wife
word: take to wife
word: the world and his wife
word: tradwife
word: wife acceptance factor
word: wife-beating
word: wife-beating question
word: wife-carl
word: wife carrying
word: wife-giver
word: wife guy
word: wife-in-law
word: wifekin
word: wifelet
word: wifelike
word: wifeliness
word: wifeling
word: wifelkin
word: wife's best friend
word: wife selling
word: wifestyle
word: wifeswapping
word: wife-taker
word: wife up
sense: woman/partner
word: wifehood
sense: woman
word: fishwife
sense: woman
word: goodwife
sense: woman
word: midwife
sense: woman
word: old wife
word: old-wife
word: oldwife
sense: woman
word: pudding-wife
sense: woman
word: wifely
word: work wife
Related terms: word: uxorial
word: autem mort
word: fiancée
word: girlfriend
word: widow