Wifehood

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈwʌɪfhʊd/

Definitions

1. The condition of being a married woman includes various social roles and responsibilities that come with partnership in matrimony
2. The state of existing as a married female, encompassing both personal identity and social duties within the family unit
3. The status associated with being a married woman entails various expectations and roles within the context of family life

Etymology: "Wifehood" is about as plain as English compounds get: "wife" with the suffix "-hood," which turns a noun into a word for a state or condition, as in "childhood" or "priesthood." The surprise lies in the first half. The Old English ancestor, "wīfhād," meant "femininity" or "the female sex" in general, not a married woman's status. Only later did the word narrow to the condition of being a wife. Old English "wīf" itself originally meant "woman" without any reference to marriage, and the word for a married woman was then a matter of context. The narrowing from womanhood to marriage took place over centuries, so the modern sense reflects a long shift in what "wife" meant rather than a change in the suffix. Middle English forms such as "wifhode" and "wifhede" carry the older compound into the medieval period, where its meaning gradually settled on the marital role that the word still expresses.

Synonyms: marriage, spousal role