Wife

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. A wife is a female partner in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the wife regarding her spouse(s) and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time. The term originated from the Middle English wif, from Old English w¿f, woman or wife, from Germanic * w¿bam, woman, which itself is related to Modern German Weib (woman, wife), from the Indo-European root ghw¿bh- 'shame; pudenda' (cf. Tocharian B kw¿pe and Tocharian A kip, each meaning 'female pudenda', with clear sexual overtones) The original meaning of "wife" as simply "woman", unconnected with marriage, is preserved in words like "midwife" and "fishwife". The term "wife" seems to be a close term to bride, the latter is a female participant in a wedding ceremony, while a wife is a married woman after the wedding, during her marriage. Her partner, if male, was known as the bridegroom during the wedding, and within the marriage is called her husband.