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THE GRAPH.
Find a modern word—or search sideways through reconstructed roots, historical forms, meanings, languages, scholars, sources, claims, disputes, and witnesses.
014
MODERN ENTRY POINTS
WORD DOSSIERS
nounexact headword
wife
A married woman in relation to a spouse; inherited from Old English wīf, whose historical field included woman more generally.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounhistorical form
bride
A woman about to be or recently married; inherited from Old English brȳd and directly preserved inside bridegroom.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗nounhistorical form
woman
An adult female human being; historically a compound of Old English wīf, woman, and mann, human being or person.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗noundossier summary
wīb
An Old High German word occurring in woman and wife expressions; it continues into Middle High German wīp and modern German Weib, whose usage has changed sharply.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗027
ATTESTED / RECONSTRUCTED / BOUNDARY
HISTORICAL FORMS
●
Present-Day English / Indo-European
wife
married woman in relation to a spouse
- DATE
- before the 12th century–today
- MATCH
- exact historical form
- DOSSIERS
- 1
German / Indo-European
Weib
woman; wife; increasingly discriminatory term
- DATE
- Modern German
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 0
Middle English / Indo-European
bride
bride; wife
- DATE
- Middle English
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Middle English / Indo-European
wif
woman; wife
- DATE
- Middle English
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Old High German / Indo-European
wīb
woman; wife in recorded expressions
- DATE
- Old High German
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Old English / Indo-European
wīf
woman; wife
- DATE
- Old English
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 2
Middle High German / Indo-European
wīp
woman; wife
- DATE
- Middle High German
- MATCH
- gloss
- DOSSIERS
- 0
038
WHERE INTERPRETATION IS TESTED
CLAIMS & DISPUTES
SCHOLARLY DISPUTES / 4
openprobableexact word
Is Tocharian B kwīpe the direct ancestor of wife?
No direct ancestry is established. Merriam-Webster calls the comparison probable, while the secure reviewed line stops at Old English wīf.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Did wife always mean only a female spouse?
No. Old English wīf and Middle English wif could mean woman as well as wife.
openproposedposition text
Is the deeper origin of wīb securely known?
No. Duden labels the origin unclear and offers a veiled bride or busy housewife interpretation only as possibilities.
resolvedestablishedposition text
Does woman come from womb plus man?
No. The historical form is Old English wīfman, built from wīf, woman or wife, and mann, human being or person.
CONTRARIAN TRUTHS / 4
RANK 121GRADE Aexact ranked word
Wife once meant woman more broadly.
Old English wīf meant woman or wife and survives inside wīfman, the ancestor of woman; its deeper source remains uncertain.
RANK 15GRADE Aranked reveal
The modern stigma of Weib is not the timeless nature of wīb.
Duden marks modern Weib increasingly discriminatory, while Old High German records preserve wīb in old-woman and wife expressions; the deeper origin remains unresolved.
RANK 112GRADE Aranked reveal
Woman does not contain womb.
Old English wīfman combines wīf, woman or wife, with mann, human being or person; contraction hid the compound in plain sight.
RANK 131GRADE Aranked reveal
Only half of bridegroom reaches the earthling root.
Bride continues Old English brȳd and stops at a Germanic comparison horizon; guma, the second compound element, follows the separate earthling branch.
042
BOOKS / DICTIONARIES / ARTICLES / DATABASES
SOURCES
052
FIRST USES & HISTORICAL OBJECTS
ATTESTATION WITNESSES
SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Merriam-Webster first-known-use report for wife
wife / wife / before the 12th century
Wife — Definition and Word Historyexact attested form / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
EWA hî(w)a¹ lexical record
wīb / wīb / Old High German lexical record
Hî(w)a¹ — Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen IVwitness excerpt / OPEN RECORD ↗06
SEARCH IS DISCOVERY, NOT PROOF
EVERY RESULT OPENS A PERMANENT EVIDENCE RECORD.
Matching text only locates a record. It does not raise confidence, settle a dispute, establish cognacy, or turn a source report into direct inspection. Follow the result into its citations and editorial limits.