What does wife mean?
“Wife” denotes a woman who is married to a particular man. It is the conventional counterpart of “husband,” and it may refer to a wife within a family, a social group, or a historical setting: a politician's wife, a celebrity's wife, or the wife of a local official. Although the word is precise, some speakers choose “spouse” or “partner” when they want to avoid focusing on gender or when the marital relationship is not central to the description. “Consort” can serve as a formal alternative, while “better half” is an affectionate, informal expression. Older meanings of “wife” referred simply to a woman, so the word has a broader historical significance than its familiar modern sense. Its unusual plural, “wives,” reflects the long-established change in the word's internal vowel, a pattern also seen in other old English nouns.
nounA woman who is married to a particular man. In older usage, the word could mean a woman generally.
- A married woman, especially as the wife of a particular person.
- Archaic: a woman generally, without reference to marriage.
"Her wife is a physician at the local hospital."
"He spent the evening cooking dinner for his wife."
"In the play, the queen addresses her husband and tells him of a plot against them both."
The plural is irregular, changing the internal vowel from /waɪf/ to /waɪvz/.
"The two sisters-in-law became close friends."
Wife once meant simply “woman”; its marital meaning developed later.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does wife come from?
The English word descends from Old English wif, which originally meant “woman” and came to mean a married woman as well. It developed from Proto-Germanic *wibō and is cognate with Icelandic víf, German Weib, and Dutch vrouw. The older sense survived in expressions such as “old wives' tale,” where the word does not denote a married woman.
Related word forms
How wife is actually used
The word is standard in everyday, literary, and formal contexts. A spouse or partner may be preferred when describing a married couple without emphasizing the wife's gender.
Easily confused with wife
A wife is a married woman, whereas a wipe is a cleaning stroke or a cloth used for cleaning.