different between wife vs princess

English

Etymology

From Middle English wif, wiif, wyf, from Old English w?f (“woman, female, lady, wife”), from Proto-Germanic *w?b? (“woman, wife”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *g?wíb?- (“shame, pudenda”) (compare Tocharian A/B kip/kw?pe (“shame, genitals, female pudenda”)). Cognate with Scots wife (“wife”), West Frisian wiif (“wife, woman”), Saterland Frisian Wieuw (“woman, lady, female”), North Frisian wüf (“wife, woman”), Dutch wijf (“woman, female”), Low German Wief (“woman, female”), German Weib (“woman, wife, female”), Danish viv (“woman”), Norwegian viv (“wife, woman, girl”), Swedish viv (“woman”), Faroese vív (“wife, woman”), Icelandic víf (“woman”).

See also woman.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wa?f/
• Rhymes: -a?f

Noun

wife (plural wives)

1. A married woman, especially in relation to her spouse.
   • 1952, P. G. Wodehouse, Big Business, in 'A Few Quick Ones', Everyman, London: 2009, p 127-8.

     All through Reginald's deeply moving performance she had sat breathless, her mind in a whirl and her soul stirred to her very depths. With each low note that he pulled up from the soles of his shoes she could feel the old affection and esteem surging back into her with a whoosh, and long before he had taken his sixth bow she knew ... that it would be madness to try to seek happiness elsewhere, particularly as the wife of a man with large ears and no chin, who looked as if he were about to start in the two-thirty race at Kempton Park.
2. The female of a pair of mated animals.

3. (Scotland) Synonym of woman.

Usage notes

Although mostly used only humorously, wife can be used with the to indicate one's own wife, as in "I'd like to go, but the wife wants me home".

Synonyms

• (married woman): little woman (slang)
• See also Thesaurus:wife

Antonyms

• (married woman): husband, were (noun) (obsolete)

Hypernyms

• better half, life partner, partner, significant other, spouse, wedder

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (waifu)
  • ? English: waifu
• ? Korean: ??? (waipeu)

Translations

See also

• uxorial

Verb

wife

1. (slang, African-American Vernacular, said of men) to marry

Synonyms

• wive

See also

• wife on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Pages starting with “wife”.

References

• Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, ?ISBN

Anagrams

• fiew

Middle English

Noun

wife

1. Alternative form of wif

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English wif (“woman, wife”), from Old English w?f (“woman”).

Noun

wife (plural wifes)

1. woman
2. wife

Derived terms

English

Etymology

From Middle English princesse, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman princesse, Old French princesse, corresponding to prince +? -ess.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /p??n?s?s/, /?p??ns?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p??ns?s/, /?p??ns?s/

Noun

princess (plural princesses)

1. A female member of a royal family other than a queen, especially a daughter or granddaughter of a monarch. [from 14th c.]
2. A woman or girl who excels in a given field or class. [from 14th c.]
3. (now archaic) A female ruler or monarch; a queen. [from 15th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.12:

     And running all with greedie ioyfulnesse / To faire Irena, at her feet did fall, / And her adored with due humblenesse, / As their true Liege and Princesse naturall […]

4. The wife of a prince; the female ruler of a principality. [from 15th c.]

   Princess Grace was the Princess of Monaco.

5. A young girl; used as a term of endearment. [from 18th c.]
6. (derogatory, chiefly US) A young girl or woman (or less commonly a man) who is vain, spoiled or selfish; a prima donna. [from 20th c.]
7. A tinted crystal marble used in children's games.
8. A type of court card in the Tarot pack, coming between the 10 and the prince (Jack).
9. A female lemur.

Usage notes

• A princess is usually styled “Her Highness”. A princess in a royal family is “Her Royal Highness”; in an imperial family “Her Imperial Highness”.

Coordinate terms

• prince

Derived terms

Related terms

• princely
• principality

Translations

See also

• archduchess
• duchess
• grand duchess
• highness
• royal

Anagrams

• Crespins, crispens