Wife Definition

wīf
wives
noun
wives
A woman.
Webster's New World
A woman with reference to the person to whom she is married.
Webster's New World
Any married woman.
Webster's New World

The female of a pair of mated animals.

A new wife for the gander is introduced into the pen.
Wiktionary
Antonyms:
idiom
take to wife
  • to marry (a specified woman)
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Wife

Noun

Singular:
wife
Plural:
wives

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Wife

Origin of Wife

  • From Middle English wif, wiif, wyf, from Old English wÄ«f (“woman, female, lady, wife"), from Proto-Germanic *wÄ«bÄ… (“woman, wife"), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰʷí₂bÊ°- (“shame, pudenda") (compare Tocharian A/B kip/kwÄ«pe (“shame, genitals, female pudenda")). Cognate with Scots wife (“wife"), West Frisian wiif (“wife, woman"), North Frisian wüf (“wife, woman"), Dutch wijf (“woman, female"), Low German Wief (“woman, female"), German Weib (“woman, wife, female"), Danish viv (“woman"), Swedish viv (“woman"), Faroese vív (“wife, woman"), Icelandic víf (“woman").

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English wif woman, wife from Old English wīf

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to wife using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

Words Ending With

Unscrambles

wife