wif

English

Etymology

Alteration of with.

Alternative forms

• wid (informal)
• with
• wiv (informal)

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĭf, IPA: /wɪf/
• Rhymes: -ɪf

Preposition

wif

1. (informal, dialectal, eye dialect) with
   • 1998, Ted Shine, Contributions, ISBN 0822202387, page 31:

     That's what I mo' wear wif my shoes.

   • 2000, Jan King, It'a A Girl Thing: The Hilarious Truth About Women, ISBN 0740711318, page 161:

     I been at the gym gettin' down wif my peeps.

   • 2002, Stan Hayes, The Rough English Equivalent, ISBN 059524579X, page 324:

     If I don' have no problem wif my high school test?

Anagrams

• IWF

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Mapudungun

Adjective

wif (using Raguileo Alphabet)

1. long
2. straight

Adverb

wif (using Raguileo Alphabet)

1. directly.

Noun

wif (using Raguileo Alphabet)

1. irrigation ditch.

References

• Wixaleyiñ: Mapucezugun-wigkazugun pici hemvlcijka (Wixaleyiñ: Small Mapudungun-Spanish dictionary), Beretta, Marta; Cañumil, Dario; Cañumil, Tulio, 2008.

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Middle English

Etymology

From Old English wīf.

Noun

wif

1. A wife, woman.
   • ca. 1380: It cam in cuppemele — this craft my wif used! — William Langland, Piers Plowman
   • ca. 1380:

That in a morwe unto this May saith he

Rys up, my wif, my love, my lady fre

— Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, The Merchant's Tale

Descendants

• English: wife
• Scots: wife

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Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wībą, of uncertain origin. Cognate with Old Frisian wīf, Old Saxon wīf, Dutch wijf, Old High German vīp (German Weib (“woman”)), Old Norse víf (Danish viv). Tocharian B kwīpe, Tocharian A kip (“vagina”) and Albanian cipë (“sense of shame, membrane”) may be cognates, suggesting a Proto-Indo-European *gʰwih₂bʰ-.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wiːf/

Noun

wīf f and n

1. A woman.
2. A married woman, a wife.

Descendants

• Middle English: wif, wiif, wyf
  • English: wife
  • Scots: wife

Derived terms

• wīfmann

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West Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA: /vɪf/

Adjective

wif (comp. wiffer, sup. wiffest)

1. shaky
2. impermanent
3. fickle, indecisive