different between wife vs wifebeater

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

Alternative forms

• wife beater
• wife-beater

Etymology

From wife +? beater. The lager acquired this nickname because, being relatively strong, it was thought to lead to drunken disputes.

Pronunciation

Noun

wifebeater (countable and uncountable, plural wifebeaters)

1. One who (usually as a repeated practice) beats his wife, or a husband prone to violence.
2. (US, slang) A kind of sleeveless shirt, often but not exclusively worn as an undershirt.
3. (uncountable, Britain, slang) Stella Artois, a brand of lager beer.

Synonyms

• (one who beats one’s wife): abusive husband
• (a kind of sleeveless shirt): A-shirt, athletic shirt, beater, muscle shirt, singlet (chiefly Australia, UK), tank top, vest

Translations

See also

• wife-beating question