wife
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
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”).
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”), Mòcheno baib (“woman”), Vilamovian bow (“wife; woman”), Yiddish ווײַב (vayb, “wife; woman”) Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and 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”)).
Inflected forms:
form: wives
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: wifes
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: wifing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: wifed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: wifed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A married woman, especially in relation to her spouse.
pos: noun
examples: The Fisherman and His Wife
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[…]
This was a very hard problem; and the Rajah thought and thought, as hard as a Malay Rajah can be expected to think, but could not solve it; and so he was very unhappy, and did nothing but smoke and chew betel with his favourite wife, and eat scarcely anything; and even when he went to the cock-fight did not seem to care whether his best birds won or lost.
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.
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.
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.
gloss: The female of a pair of mated animals.
pos: noun
examples: A new wife for the gander is introduced into the pen.
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.
gloss: Synonym of woman.
pos: noun
tags: Scotland
gloss: To marry (a woman).
pos: verb
tags: colloquial
examples: Mentally scarred for life, love is war / And some chicks are just too hard to wife
Mecca knew she wasn't lying. She had the type of beauty that made niggas want to wife her.
I thought that I was going to wife her, but because of the new news with my brother I couldn't do it.
But I told you that you're not a wifeable woman, and I told him so, and he wanted to wife you anyway.
Synonyms: ball and chain
better half
boss
bride
dutch
'er indoors
frow
geezer
her indoors
lady
little lady
memsahib
missus
old lady
old woman
trouble
trouble and strife
wife
wifekin
wifelet
wifeling
wifey
Antonyms: husband
were
Related words: uxorial
autem mort
fiancée
girlfriend
waifu
widow
Derived words: aad wife
all the world and his wife
apple-wife
archwife
bamboo wife
blue star wife
brother's wife
Caesar's wife
Caesar's wife must be above suspicion
cockle wife
country wife
cyberwife
dead wife flashback
dead wife montage
Deppford wife
devil is beating his wife and marrying his daughter
devil is kissing his wife
devil's beating his wife
Dutch wife
gold star wife
husband and wife
ice wife
I now declare you man and wife
Lot's wife
merwife
mob wife
orange-wife
oyster wife
cowife
ex wife
wife-beater
wife beater
plural wife
prison wife
seawife
side-wife
sister-wife
spaewife
Stepford wife
stepwife
superwife
take a wife
take to wife
the world and his wife
tradwife
washerwife
wife acceptance factor
wife-beating
wife-beating question
wife-carl
wife carrying
wife-changing
wife-giver
wife guy
wife-in-law
wifekin
wifelet
wifelike
wifeliness
wifeling
wifelkin
wife's best friend
wife selling
wifestyle
wifeswapping
wife-taker
wife up
old-wife
oldwife
work wife
alewife
fishwife
goodwife
midwife
old wife
pudding-wife
wifely
Translations: