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wife

Pronunciation: /wæf/

The English word “wife” has 4 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A married woman, especially in relation to her spouse.
  2. The female of a pair of mated animals.
  3. Synonym of woman.

verb

  1. To marry (a woman).

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English wyf, wif, from Old English wīf (“woman, wife”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą (“woman; wife”). Cognates Germanic cognates include Scots wife (“wife; woman”), North Frisian wuf, wüf (“wife, woman”), Saterland Frisian Wieuw (“woman; wife; female”), West Frisian wiif (“wife; woman”), Cimbrian baibe, baip (“wife; woman”), Dutch wijf (“woman;…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.