different between wively vs wifely

English

Etymology

From Middle English wifly, equivalent to wife +? -ly.

Adjective

wively (comparative more wively, superlative most wively)

1. Obsolete form of wifely.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Nicholas Udall to this entry?)

Anagrams

• viewly

English

Alternative forms

• wively (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English wifly, wifli, from Old English w?fl?c (“womanly, wifely”), from Proto-Germanic *w?bal?kaz (“wifely”), equivalent to wife +? -ly. Cognate with Scots wyfelie (“womanly, wifely”), Dutch wijflijk, wijfelijk, German weiblich (“feminine, female”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?wa?fli/

Adjective

wifely (comparative wifelier, superlative wifeliest)

1. Of, befitting, pertaining to, or characteristic of a wife.
   • 1869, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, Part 2, Chapter 38,^[1]

     Being a domestic man, John decidedly missed the wifely attentions he had been accustomed to receive, but as he adored his babies, he cheerfully relinquished his comfort for a time, supposing with masculine ignorance that peace would soon be restored.

   • 1944, Emily Carr, The House of All Sorts, “Unmarried,”^[3]

     A woman who does not nose into the domestic arrangements of the place she is going to occupy gives the first hint, for a woman indifferent to the heating, furnishing, plumbing, cooking utensils of her home is not wifely.

Synonyms

• uxorial
• wifey

Derived terms

• unwifely
• wifeliness

Translations

• Italian: mogliesco (it)