wive

From Middle English wiven, iwiven, from Old English wīfian, wīfiġan, ġewīfian (“to take a wife; marry”).

• IPA^(key): /waɪv/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -aɪv

wive (third-person singular simple present wives, present participle wiving, simple past and past participle wived)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To marry (a woman).
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     If he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me.

2. (transitive) To provide (someone) with a wife.

• wife (slang, African-American Vernacular)

• view

A version of wyf with the voiced consonant analogically brought in from the plural forms.

wive

1. Alternative form of wyf

From Old English wīfa, nominative plural of wīf.

wive

1. Alternative form of wyve (“wives”)