wife

wife主要指已婚女性，即某人的妻子；也可指成对交配动物中的雌性，苏格兰英语中还可指“女人”。作为动词，它表示娶一名女性为妻，语体较口语化。

💡 记忆钩子

把wife想成“配偶中的女性一方”：在人类关系中，她是妻子；延伸到成对的动物，就是雌性伴侣；作为动词，则是把一名女性娶为妻。

📝 学习建议

先掌握“妻子”这一核心义，再理解动物配偶和动词用法。
不要把wife默认理解成泛指“女人”；标准英语中通常只有“妻子”义，泛指“女人”主要是苏格兰用法。

📖 中文释义

noun

core 妻子

📖 指已经结婚的女性，重点是她与配偶之间的婚姻关系，而不只是“女性”这一性别。

💡 常用“someone’s wife”表示“某人的妻子”，也可说“the wife of someone”，后者较正式。不要把wife用于未婚伴侣，也不要在只想表达“女人”时使用它。

His wife works at the local library.

他的妻子在当地的图书馆工作。

She introduced me to her wife at the party.

她在聚会上把我介绍给了她的妻子。
common 雌性配偶

📖 指一对交配或成对饲养的动物中的雌性，相当于“雌性伴侣”，仍保留“配偶中的女性一方”这一核心概念。

💡 通常出现在“某种雄性动物的wife”或“给某种雄性动物找wife”这类动物饲养语境中。它不是所有雌性动物的普通名称，正式说明中也常直接使用具体的动物性别词。

The farmer brought a new wife for the old gander.

农夫给那只老公鹅带来了一只新的雌鹅作伴。
rare 女人

📖 在苏格兰英语的特定用法中，wife可泛指女人；这是地域性和较讲究传统的用法，不是标准英语中的常用义。

💡 只在明确的苏格兰语境或方言材料中按“女人”理解。学习者在普通英语中不要用它来泛指女性，否则通常会被理解为“妻子”。

Scotland

wives plural

verb

core 娶为妻

📖 表示男性或其他主体把一名女性娶为妻，是“妻子”这一核心概念转化成的动作。

💡 常见结构是“wife someone”，意思是“娶某人为妻”；也可在过去时中表示已经完成这段婚姻行为。日常中更常用表示结婚的普通表达，这个动词听起来较随意，有时还带有戏谑或强烈口语感。

colloquial

He decided to wife her after years of friendship.

他们做了多年的朋友后，他决定娶她为妻。

wifes present,singular,third-person wifing participle,present wifed participle,past wifed past

📘 英文释义 (WordNet) 共 1 组

a married woman; a man's partner in marriage

同义词集: wife married woman

反义: hubby, husband, married man 上位: adult female, better half, married person, mate, partner, spouse, woman 下位: homemaker, housewife, lady of the house, matron, missis, missus, woman of the house

🌳 词源

源自古英语wīf，原义包含“女人、妻子”；更早的词源尚有争议。

Proto-Germanic *wībą Proto-West Germanic *wīb Old English wīf Middle English wyf English wife Inherited from Middle English wyf, wif, from Old English wīf (“woman, wife”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą (“woman; wife”). Cognates Germanic cognates include Scots wife (“wife; woman”), North Frisian wuf, wüf (“wife, woman”), Saterland Frisian Wieuw (“woman; wife; female”), West Frisian wiif (“wife; woman”), Cimbrian baibe, baip (“wife; woman”), Dutch wijf (“woman; female”), German Weib (“woman; wife; female”), German Low German Wiev (“woman; female”), Mòcheno baib (“woman”), Vilamovian bow (“wife; woman”), Yiddish ווײַב (vayb, “wife; woman”) Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish viv (“wife; woman”), Faroese vív (“wife; woman”), Icelandic víf (“wife; woman”). The further etymology is unknown, with a number of disputed suggestions. One suggestion connects Tocharian A/B kip/kwīpe (“genitals, female pudenda”), for a hypothetical Indo-European *gʰwíbʰ- (“pudenda”). Another suggestion connects Old English wǣfan (“wrap, clothe”), Old Norse vífa (“wrap, veil”) for a suggested original motive of "married woman wearing a scarf". Yet another suggestion connects Old High German weibōn (“move to and fro”), Old Norse veifa (“swing, throw”), for a motive of "one who is moving busily; housekeeper, maidservant" (cf. German Weibel (“manservant, usher”)).

🔄 变式

wifed past wifes present wifing present wives plural

🏷 单词标签 & 词根