What does wived mean?
Wived is an archaic English form meaning married. It is most commonly encountered as the past tense and past participle of wive, a verb now confined mainly to older writing. In that use, it can mean to marry a woman or, in older constructions, to become a husband. For example, a statement that someone “wived the mayor's daughter” describes the act of marrying her. Wived can also function as a participial adjective meaning married or having a wife, as in the phrase “a wived man.” The word carries the conventions of traditional and literary prose and is unsuitable for most modern neutral writing. Its survival is especially notable because it preserves an older vocabulary of marriage: where modern English uses marry for both the ceremony and the resulting status, wive more specifically associates marriage with becoming a husband. Although uncommon today, the form remains useful in historical texts and formal discussions of older English.
The past tense and past participle of wive. It means to marry a woman or, in older usage, to become a husband.
"He wived the mayor's daughter in the spring."
Archaic and literary; the transitive use means to marry as a husband.
Married or having a wife.
"The village welcomed him as a wived man of modest means."
A participlesque adjective use that is especially archaic.
One vowel separates wived from waived: one means married, while the other means let go.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of wived
Wived comes from Middle English wīven, “to marry,” continuing the Old English verb wīfian and ultimately the Germanic root represented in modern English by wife. Related words such as wifely and wifeless come from the same Old English root, while German Weib and Dutch wijf are cognate forms in other Germanic languages. The ending -ed in wived is the regular English past-tense and past-participle marker added to the older verb.
Related word forms
How wived is actually used
The word is archaic and literary rather than part of standard contemporary usage. The verb is normally encountered in a past-tense or participial construction, while the adjective use is especially old-fashioned.
Easily confused with wived
Wived means married and is pronounced with /aɪ/, while waived means voluntarily given up or refrained from and is pronounced with /eɪ/.