wife

From Middle English wif, wiif, wyf, from Old English wīf n (“woman, female, lady, wife”), from Proto-Germanic *wībą n (“woman, wife”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰwíh₂bʰ- (“shame, pudenda”) (compare Tocharian A/B kip/kwīpe (“shame, genitals, female pudenda”)).[1][2] Cognate with Scots wife (“wife”), West Frisian wiif c (“wife, woman”), Saterland Frisian Wieuw n (“woman, lady, female”), North Frisian wüf (“wife, woman”), Dutch wijf n (“woman, female”), Low German Wief (“woman, female”), German Weib n (“woman, wife, female”), Danish viv c (“woman”), Norwegian viv (“wife, woman, girl”), Swedish viv (“woman”), Faroese vív n (“wife, woman”), Icelandic víf n (“woman”).

• IPA^(key): /waɪf/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -aɪf

wife (plural wives)

1. A married woman, especially in relation to her spouse.
   • The Fisherman and His Wife
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 10, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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.

2. The female of a pair of mated animals.

   A new wife for the gander is introduced into the pen.

3. (Scotland) Synonym of woman.[3]

Although mostly used only humorously, wife can be used with the to indicate one's own wife, as in "I'd like to go, but the wife wants me home".

• (married woman): little woman (slang)
• See also Thesaurus:wife

• (married woman): husband, were (noun) (obsolete)

• better half, life partner, partner, significant other, spouse, wedder

• uxorial

wife

1. (slang, African American Vernacular) This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
   • 2009, Ashley & JaQuavis, The Cartel‎, volume 1, →ISBN, page 106:

     Mecca knew she wasn't lying. She had the type of beauty that made niggas want to wife her.

   • 2010, Kenya K. Watkins, The Life You Choose‎, →ISBN, page 154:

     I thought that I was going to wife her, but because of the new news with my brother I couldn't do it.

   • 2016, Gayl Jones, The Healing‎, →ISBN:

     But I told you that you're not a wifeable woman, and I told him so, and he wanted to wife you anyway.

• wife on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Pages starting with "wife".

• The New Geordie Dictionary, Frank Graham, 1987, →ISBN

• fiew

wife

1. Alternative form of wif

From Middle English wif (“woman, wife”), from Old English wīf (“woman”).

wife (plural wifes)

1. woman
2. wife