A wife is a female lifetime partner in a continuing marital relationship. A wife may also be referred to as a spouse. The term continues to be applied to a woman who has separated from her husband and ceases to be applied to such a woman only when her marriage has come to an end following a legally recognised divorce or the death of her spouse. The rights and obligations of the wife in relation to her husband and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time. In a heterosexual relationship, a woman's spouse is her husband.
The term is most commonly applied to a woman in a legally sanctioned marriage, and not to a woman in another cohabitation relationship such as a concubine, mistress etc. However, a woman in a so-called common law marriage may describe herself as a common law wife, de facto wife, or simply a wife; but sometimes the female is described as "girlfriend" or "partner". Those seeking to advance gender neutrality may refer to both marriage partners as "spouses", and many countries are rewording their statute law by replacing "wife" and "husband" with "spouse". Also, in a polygamous marriage, each woman is described as a wife.
Read more about Wife: Summary, Related Terminology, Differences in Cultures, Expectation of Fidelity
Other articles related to "wife":
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... According to Táin Bó Cúailnge (the Cattle Raid of Cooley), his wife is the beautiful goddess, Fand ("Pearl of Beauty" or "A Tear" - later ... Other sources say his wife was the goddess Áine, though she is at other times said to be his daughter ... home with a victory because of a bargain made with Manannán (either by him, or by his wife) to let Manannán have a child by his wife ...
... Aesacus sorrowed for the death of his wife or would-be lover, a daughter of the river Cebren, and was transformed into a bird ... The Bibliotheca makes Aesacus son of Priam's first wife Arisbe, daughter of Merops ... of Cebren for whom Aesacus mourns is his wife named Asterope ...
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Famous quotes containing the word wife:
“The bread-winner must toil as in the fruitless effort of a troubled dream while the expenditure of an uneducated wife discounts the income in the lack of understanding to discern the broad possibilities of an intelligent economy.”
—Anna Eugenia Morgan (1845–1909)
“Okay, we’re bad.
Go away, faithful wife.
Your name may be untarnished,
but at least we don’t
lust after the barber
like somebody’s wife we know.”
—Hla Stavhana (c. 50 A.D.)