wive

English

Etymology

From Middle English wiven, iwiven, from Old English wīfian, wīfiġan, ġewīfian (“to take a wife; marry”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /waɪv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪv

Verb

wive (third-person singular simple present wives, present participle wiving, simple past and past participle wived)

1. (ambitransitive) To marry (a woman).

   Synonyms: (rare) bewife, take to wife, (colloquial) wife (verb)

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     If he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me.

2. (transitive) To provide (someone) with a wife.

   Synonym: (rare) bewife

Translations

to marry (a woman)

• Albanian: marr (sq)
• Bulgarian: женя се (ženja se)
• Esperanto: edzinigi
• German: heiraten (de), zur Frau nehmen
• Portuguese: esposar (pt), casar (pt)
• Romanian: căsători (ro)
• Russian: жени́ться (ru) impf (ženítʹsja), пожени́ться (ru) pf (poženítʹsja)
• Tamil: மணக்க (maṇakka)

Anagrams

• view

Middle English

Etymology 1

A version of wyf with the voiced consonant analogically brought in from the plural forms.

Noun

wive

1. alternative form of wyf

Etymology 2

From Old English wīfa, nominative plural of wīf.

Noun

wive

1. alternative form of wyve (“wives”)