wife

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“
I shall become a master bricklayer, and my wife will be a master's wife -- that is what _I_ call something. "

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Definitions (18)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A woman joined to a man in marriage; a female spouse.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (15)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

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This word has been looked up 157 times.

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Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

daughter ·  child ·  servant ·  king ·  companion ·  lover ·  soul ·  soldier ·  fellow ·  parent ·  house ·  widow

Used in the same contextWord Family

wife:   wives

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English wif, from Old English wīf; see ghwībh- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English wif, wiif, wyf (plural wif wive, wifes, wives), from Anglo-Saxon wīf, neuter (plural wif), a woman, wife, = Old Saxon wīf, wībh = OFries. wīf = D, wijf = Low German wief = Old High German Middle High German wīp, German weib = Icelandic vīf (used only in poetry) = Swedish vif = Danish viv, woman; not found in Goth, and not traced outside of Teutonic; root unknown. It cannot be connected, as commonly thought, with weave. Some compare Sanskrit √ vip, tremble, Latin vibrare, vibrate, quiver, Old High German weibōn, waver, be inspired, be irresolute, and suppose that the word orig. meant ‘something inspired’ (the Germans orig. seeing in woman sanctum aliquid et providum), or that it orig. meant ‘trembling,’ with reference to the timidity of a bride. Some connect it with Goth, waibjan, wind, twine, in bi-waibjan, wind about, clothe, envelop, because of a woman's ‘enveloping clothing,’ or because she is the ‘one who binds or unites herself.’ These are all vagaries. The earlier Teutonic word, the one with other Indo-European cognates, is that represented by queen, quean. The neuter or inadequate significance of the word is prob. indicated also by the formation in Anglo-Saxon of the apparently more distinctive word wīfman, whence ult. English woman.
  2. from wife, n.
 

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/waɪf/
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