wif

See also: WIF

English

Alternative forms

• wid, wiv (both informal)

Etymology

Alteration of with.

Pronunciation

• enPR: wĭf, IPA^(key): /wɪf/
• Rhymes: -ɪf

Preposition

wif

1. (informal, dialectal, nonstandard) with
   • 1998, Ted Shine, Contributions, →ISBN, 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, page 161:

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

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

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

Anagrams

• IWF

Mapudungun

Adjective

wif (Raguileo spelling)

1. long
2. straight

Adverb

wif (Raguileo spelling)

1. directly

Noun

wif (Raguileo spelling)

1. irrigation ditch

References

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

Middle English

Noun

wif

1. Alternative form of wyf

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą.

Cognate with Old Frisian wīf, Old Saxon wīf, Old English wīf, Old High German wīb, Old Norse víf.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wiːf/

Noun

wīf n

1. woman
   • c. 1000 CE, Leiden Willeram;

     Thie thiernan sahon sie ande zaldon sie ze aller wivo saligosta

     The girls saw her and counted her as the most fortunate of all women

   • c. 1100 CE, Rhinelandic Rhyming Bible;

     Thure sinen bosen nith betroch er thaz arme wif

     Because of his evil hate, he decieved that poor woman

2. (rare) wife

Declension

Declension of wif

	Singular	Plural
nominative	wīf	wīf
accusative	wīf	wīf
genitive	wīvis, -es	wīvo
dative	wīve, -i	wīvon

Derived terms

• wīffardragan (“the kidnapping of a woman”)

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: wijf
  • Dutch: wijf
    • Afrikaans: wyf
    • Jersey Dutch: wāif
    • Negerhollands: wief, wif
    • Skepi Creole Dutch: weef
    • Sranan Tongo: wefi
  • Limburgish: wief
  • West Flemish: wuuf
  • Zealandic: wuuf

References

“wīf”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old English

Alternative forms

• wīb

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą, of uncertain origin.

Cognate with Old Frisian wīf, Old Saxon wīf, Old Dutch wīf, Old High German wīb, Old Norse víf.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wiːf/

Noun

wīf n

1. woman
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Annunciation of St. Mary"

     Ūs becōm dēaþ and forwyrd þurh wīf, and ūs becōm eft līf and hredding þurh wīfmann.

     Death and disaster came to us through a woman [Eve], and then life and salvation came to us through a woman [Mary].

   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, John 4:27

     His leornungcneohtas wundrodon þæt hē wiþ wīf spræc, þēah heora nān ne cwæþ “Hwæt sēcst þū?” oþþe “Hwæt spricst þū wiþ hīe?”

     His disciples were amazed that he was talking to a woman, though none of them said “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking to her?”

2. female
   • c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English

     Ǣġðer is mann ġe wer ġe wīf.

     A person is either a male or a female.

3. wife
   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy

     Swīðe wynsum hit biþ þæt man wīf hæbbe and bearn.

     It's very pleasant to have a wife and children.

Usage notes

• Since wīf is a grammatically neuter noun, all accompanying articles, determiners, and adjectives take neuter forms: þæt ealde wīf ("the old woman").
• However, pronouns referring back to wīf are almost always feminine: Ġesiehst þū þæt wīf sēo þǣr stent? Canst þū hīe? ("Do you see the woman who [feminine] is standing there? Do you know her?"). The same applies to the neuter word mæġden (“girl”) and the masculine word wīfmann (“woman”), whose grammatical genders also disagree with their natural genders.

Declension

Declension of wif (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	wīf	wīf
accusative	wīf	wīf
genitive	wīfes	wīfa
dative	wīfe	wīfum

Antonyms

• wer (with respect to gender)

Derived terms

• wīfcynn (“womankind”)
• wīffrēond (“female friend”)
• wīfhād (“the female gender”)
• wīfhand (“a female inheritor; female side”)
• wīflēas (“wifeless”)
• wīflīċ (“female, feminine”)
• wīfmann (“woman”)
• wīfsċrūd (“women's clothing”)

Descendants

• Middle English: wyf, wife, wif, wiff, wiffe, wijf, wive, wyfe, wyff, wyve
  • English: wife (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: wife

Old Frisian

Alternative forms

• wiif (Late Old Frisian)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą, of uncertain origin. Cognates include Old English wīf, Old Saxon wīf and Old Dutch wīf.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wiːf/

Noun

wīf n

1. woman
2. wife

Descendants

• North Frisian: wüf
• Saterland Frisian: Wieuw
• West Frisian: wiif

References

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

West Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɪf/

Adjective

wif

1. shaky
2. impermanent
3. fickle, indecisive

Inflection

Inflection of wif
uninflected	wif
inflected	wiffe
comparative	wiffer
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		wif	wiffer	it wifst it wifste
indefinite	c. sing.	wiffe	wiffere	wifste
	n. sing.	wif	wiffer	wifste
	plural	wiffe	wiffere	wifste
definite		wiffe	wiffere	wifste
partitive		wifs	wiffers	—

Further reading

• “wif”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011