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• wife
  wife

  noun

  a married woman, especially when considered in relation to her partner in marriage.
• -wife
  -wife

  a combining form of wife, now unproductive, occurring in compound words that in general designate traditional roles or occupations of women.

wife

¹ American  

[wahyf] / waɪf /

noun

• wives
  plural

1. a married woman, especially when considered in relation to her partner in marriage.

2. a woman (archaic or dial., except in idioms).

   old wives' tale.

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verb (used with or without object)

wifed, wifing

1. Rare. wive.

idioms

1. take to wife, to marry (a particular woman).

   He took an heiress to wife.

-wife ² American  

1. a combining form of wife, now unproductive, occurring in compound words that in general designate traditional roles or occupations of women.

   fishwife; goodwife; housewife; midwife.

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wife British  

/ waɪf /

noun

1. a man's partner in marriage; a married woman

2. an archaic or dialect word for woman

3. to marry (a woman)

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wife More Idioms  

1. see under wives.

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Usage

What is a basic definition of wife? A wife is a married woman. The word wife is often used when a woman’s marital status is important to the current topic. For example, a man might explain to a salesperson that he is  looking for a present for his wife, which is a lot more helpful than saying he is buying a gift for “a woman.”The plural of wife is wives. A man who is married is called a husband. A woman whose marital partner has died is called a widow.

• Real-life examples: Queen Isabella I of Castille was the wife of King Ferdinand II of Aragon. King Henry VIII infamously had six wives (but one at a time!). If you are married to a woman, then she is your wife.
• Used in a sentence: My uncle has never been married and says he has no interest in finding a wife.  

Sometimes, a modifier is used with wife to be more specific about a woman’s marital partner.

• Used in a sentence: The documentary explored the lives of prison wives.

Some married people prefer gender-neutral terms, such as spouse or partner. The choice is up to the people in the marriage.

What does -wife mean? The combining form -wife is used like a suffix to mean “wife" or, more generally, "woman." It’s used in a variety of terms, especially in reference to professions, but it’s relatively uncommon except for in a few words. The form -wife comes from Old English wīf, meaning “woman.” Wīf was eventually combined with mann, which was then a gender-neutral term for an adult person, to create wīfmann, the source of the modern word woman. Want to know more? Check out our Words That Use entry for -woman. What are variants of -wife?Just as the word wives is used as a plural form of the word wife, the ending -wives is often used as a plural form of -wife, as in midwives.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• wifedom
  noun
• wifehood
  noun
• wifelessness
  noun
• wifeliness
  noun
• wifeless
  adjective
• wifelike
  adjective
• wifely
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• wives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of wife

before 900; Middle English, Old English wīf woman; cognate with Dutch wijf, German Weib, Old Norse vīf

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wife -wife wives wifed wifing

Authorities on Thursday released the names of the husband and wife: David Voight, 56, and Amy Voight, 54.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

And he ruled out bringing Britain back into the European Union if in government, despite his close personal ties to the continent including his French wife who was influential in the recent Bayeux Tapestry exchange.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

Then came a surprise, smaller meeting hosted by an intensely private and particularly powerful alumnus and sports-team booster—Jolin Ellison, class of 2012, an international studies graduate and Larry Ellison’s sixth wife.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

This would require your brother-in-law or his wife to vocalize a different desire, which would be quite bold.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026

“My wife and children are sick. Give me more!”

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Oys′ter-wench, -wife, -wom′an, a woman who vends oysters.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various

With time, electricity from solar panels and water from a well turned the grotto into a new home for the 33-year-old Emar, his two wives and 11 children, who nonetheless long for life above ground.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

The first law allowing an early claiming age was passed in 1956 and let women workers and wives of workers claim retirement benefits at a reduced rate beginning at age 62.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026

Their wives, Chelsea Freeman and Vedrana Heyward, are close too.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

Her grandfather, who died in 1979, had five wives, her great-grandfather had 11.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

And now with so many immigrant men at war, no longer needing a place to stay in Chicago, immigrant wives lost the extra money the family had taken in from boarders.

From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield

"I'm sore offended in the lad I'm wifed to."

From Blind Man's Lantern by George Luther Schelling

From her perspective, all-powerful cosmic beings have no business wifing up with mortals.

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2025

Related Words

• bride
• companion
• partner
• roommate
• spouse