A wife is a female in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until the marriage is legally dissolved with a divorce judgement. On the death of her partner, a wife is referred to as a widow. The rights and obligations of a wife in relation to her partner and her status in the community and in law vary between cultures and have varied over time.
The word is of Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic *wībam, “woman”. In Middle English it had the form wif, and in Old English wīf, “woman or wife”. It is related to Modern German Weib (woman, female),and Danish viv (wife, usually poetic); The original meaning of the phrase “wife” as simply “woman”, unconnected with marriage or a husband/wife, is preserved in words such as “midwife”, “goodwife”, “fishwife” and “spaewife”.
In many cultures, marriage is generally expected that a woman will take her husband’s surname, though that is not universal. A married woman may indicate her marital status in a number of ways: in Western culture a married woman would commonly wear a wedding ring but in other cultures other markers of marital status may be used. A married woman is commonly given the honorific title “Mrs”, but some married women prefer to be referred to as “Ms”, a title which is also used by preference or when the marital status of a woman is unknown.
