wife Hear it!

wife definition

wife (wīf)

noun pl. wives (wīvz)

  1. a woman: still so used in such compounds as midwife, housewife, etc.
  2. a married woman; specif., a woman in her relationship to her husband

Etymology: ME < OE wif, woman, akin to Swed viv, Ger weib < ? IE base *weip-, to twist, turn, wrap, in sense “the hidden or veiled person”

Related Forms:

wife Idioms

take to wife

Archaic to marry (a specified woman)

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.
Related Discussions (1)
TopicRepliesLatest Post
Woman, Wife and Queen35 years ago

Browse Forums