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wife

[wahyf]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR wife ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural wives [wahyvz] /waɪvz/.

a married woman, especially when considered in relation to her partner in marriage.
a woman (archaic or dial., except in idioms): old wives' tale.

verb (used with or without object), wifed, wif·ing.

Rare. wive.

Idioms

    take to wife, to marry (a particular woman): He took an heiress to wife.

Origin of wife

before 900; Middle English, Old English wīf woman; cognate with Dutch wijf, German Weib, Old Norse vīf
Related formswife·dom, nounwife·less, adjectivewife·less·ness, noun

-wife

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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for wife

partner, bride, roommate, spouse, companion, helpmate, mate, consort, monogamist

Examples from the Web for wife

Contemporary Examples of wife

Historical Examples of wife

  • Again he recurred to his early years, and talked fondly of his wife and children.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • Too bad, though—you certainly need a wife to take the conceit out of you.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • The girls I know are taught painstakingly how to get a husband, but nothing of how to be a wife.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • "I must make you acquainted with my wife and children," he said.

    Brave and Bold

    Horatio Alger

  • He did not remember who he was, or that he had a wife and child.

    Brave and Bold

    Horatio Alger

British Dictionary definitions for wife

wife

noun plural wives (waɪvz)

a man's partner in marriage; a married womanRelated adjective: uxorial
an archaic or dialect word for woman
take to wife to marry (a woman)
Derived Formswifehood, nounwifeless, adjectivewifelike, adjectivewifeliness, nounwifely, adjective

Word Origin for wife

Old English wīf; related to Old Norse vīf (perhaps from vīfathr veiled), Old High German wīb (German Weib)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for wife
n.

Old English wif "woman," from Proto-Germanic *wiban (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian wif, Old Norse vif, Danish and Swedish viv, Middle Dutch, Dutch wijf, Old High German wib, German Weib), of uncertain origin. Dutch wijf now means, in slang, "girl, babe," having softened somewhat from earlier sense of "bitch."

Some proposed PIE roots include *weip- "to twist, turn, wrap," perhaps with sense of "veiled person" (see vibrate); or *ghwibh-, a proposed root meaning "shame," also "pudenda," but the only examples of it are wife and Tocharian (a lost IE language of central Asia) kwipe, kip "female pudenda."

The modern sense of "female spouse" began as a specialized sense in Old English; the general sense of "woman" is preserved in midwife, old wives' tale, etc. Middle English sense of "mistress of a household" survives in housewife; and later restricted sense of "tradeswoman of humble rank" in fishwife. Wife-swapping is attested from 1954.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with wife

wife

see under wives.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.