O.E. wif "woman," from P.Gmc. *wiban (cf. O.S., O.Fris. wif, O.N. vif, Dan., Swed. viv, M.Du., Du. wijf, O.H.G. wib, Ger. Weib), of unknown origin. The modern sense of "female spouse" began as a specialized sense in O.E.; the general sense of "woman" is preserved in midwife, old wives' tale, etc. M.E. sense of "mistress of a household" survives in housewife; and later restricted sense of "tradeswoman of humble rank" in fishwife. Du. wijf now means, in slang, "girl, babe," having softened somewhat from earlier sense of "bitch." Wife-swapping is attested from 1959.

the woman to whom one is married
Example: Come and meet my wife; He is looking for a wife.

Arabic: زَوْجَه Chinese (Simplified): 妻子 Chinese (Traditional): 妻子 Czech: manželka Danish: kone Dutch: echtgenote Estonian: naine, abikaasa Finnish: vaimo French: femme German: die (Ehe-)Frau Greek: η σύζυγος Hungarian: feleség Icelandic: eiginkona Indonesian: istri Italian: moglie	Japanese: 妻 Latvian: sieva Lithuanian: žmona Norwegian: kone, hustru Polish: żona Portuguese (Brazil): esposa Portuguese (Portugal): esposa Romanian: soţie Russian: жена Slovak: manželka Slovenian: žena Spanish: esposa, mujer Swedish: fru, hustru Turkish: eş, karı