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concubine . In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
concubine , but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
concubine in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
concubine you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English concubine (first attested 1250–1300), from Anglo-Norman concubine , from Latin concubīna , equivalent to concub- (variant stem of concumbō ( “ to lie together ” ) ) + feminine suffix -īna .
Pronunciation
Noun
concubine (plural concubines )
A sexual partner , especially a woman, to whom one is not or cannot be married.
Synonyms: mistress , sprunk ; see also Thesaurus:sexual partner , Thesaurus:mistress
A woman who lives with a man, but who is not a wife .
Synonyms: cohabitor , cohabitant , domestic partner
c. 1591–1592 (date written) , William Shakespeare , “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio ), London: Isaac Iaggard , and Ed Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , :And that is more than I will yield unto: / I know I am too mean to be your queen, / And yet too good to be your concubine .
( chiefly historical ) A slave-girl or woman, kept for instance in a harem , who is held for sexual service.
Synonym: odalisque
c. 1587–1588 , [Christopher Marlowe ], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592 , →OCLC ; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973 , →ISBN , Act III, scene iii :He ſhall be made a chaſte and luſtleſſe Eunuch, And in my Sarell tend my Concubines :
1611 , The Holy Bible, (King James Version ), London: Robert Barker , , →OCLC , Judges 20:4–6 :And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine , to lodge. And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead. And I took my concubine , and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.
c. 1909 , Mark Twain , “Letter VIII”, in Letters from the Earth :Solomon, who was one of the Deity's favorities, had a copulation cabinet composed of seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines .
Derived terms
Translations
a woman who lives with a man, but who is not a wife
Arabic: سُرِّيَة f ( surriya )
Aramaic:
Classical Syriac: ܕܪܘܟܬܐ f ( dərūḵtā )
Armenian: հարճ (hy) ( harč )
Basque: ohaide (eu)
Belarusian: нало́жніца f ( nalóžnica )
Bikol Central: sambay (bcl)
Bulgarian: нало́жница f ( nalóžnica )
Catalan: concubina (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 妾 (zh) ( qiè ) , 姨太太 (zh) ( yítàitài ) , 妃 (zh) ( fēi ) ( imperial concubine ) , 側室 / 侧室 (zh) ( cèshì ) ( archaic )
Czech: konkubína (cs) f
Danish: konkubine c
Esperanto: kromvirino
Finnish: avovaimo (fi)
French: concubine (fr) f
Georgian:
Old Georgian: ხარჭი ( xarč̣i )
German: Konkubine (de) f
Greek: παλλακίδα (el) f ( pallakída )
Ancient: παλλακίς f ( pallakís ) , παλλακή f ( pallakḗ )
Hebrew: פִּילֶגֶשׁ (he) f ( pilégeš )
Hungarian: ágyas (hu)
Indonesian: selir (id)
Irish: bean luí f , bean leapa f
Japanese: 妾 (ja) ( めかけ, mekake, しょう, shō ) , めかけ (ja) ( mekake ) , 側室 (ja) ( そくしつ, sokushitsu )
Korean: 첩(妾) (ko) ( cheop )
Latin: paelex f , concubīna f , amāsia f ( Mediaeval ) , amīca f , coniūnx (la) c , pallaca f
Macedonian: наложница f ( naložnica )
Manchu: ᠠᠰᡳᡥᠠᠨ ᠰᠠᡵᡤᠠᠨ ( asihan sargan ) , ᡤᡠᠸᡝᠯᡝᡴᡠ ( guweleku )
Manx: colhiabbagh f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: konkubine m or f
Nynorsk: konkubine f
Polish: konkubentka f , konkubina (pl) f , nieślubna (pl) f
Portuguese: concubina (pt) f , amásia (pt) f , barregã (pt) f
Russian: нало́жница (ru) f ( nalóžnica ) , ( kept woman ) содержа́нка (ru) f ( soderžánka )
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: конкубина f
Roman: konkubina (sh) f
Slovak: konkubína (sk) f
Spanish: concubina (es) f
Swahili: suria
Swedish: konkubin (sv) c
Tagalog: kalaguyo , kabit ( derogatory )
Thai: ( royal ) (พระ ~)สนม (th) ( sà-nǒm )
Ukrainian: нало́жниця f ( nalóžnycja )
Vietnamese: vợ lẻ , ( dated ) nàng hầu (vi)
Welsh: gordderch f , gordderchwraig f , cywelyes f
See also
References
Random House Unabridged Dictionary
“concubine ”, in OneLook Dictionary Search .
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch concubine , from Middle French concubine , from Old French , from Latin concubīna .
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /ˌkɔŋ.kyˈbi.nə/
Hyphenation: con‧cu‧bi‧ne
Rhymes: -inə
Noun
concubine f (plural concubines or concubinen , masculine concubaan or concubant )
concubine
Synonyms: bijvrouw , bijwijf , bijzit , bijzitster
( Suriname ) female partner in a common-law marriage
Derived terms
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin concubīna .
Pronunciation
Noun
concubine f (plural concubines , masculine concubin )
cohabitant , female domestic partner
concubine
Further reading
Italian
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /kon.kuˈbi.ne/
Rhymes: -ine
Hyphenation: con‧cu‧bì‧ne
Noun
concubine f
plural of concubina
Latin
Noun
concubīne
vocative singular of concubīnus
Middle English
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman concubine , from Latin concubīna .
Pronunciation
Noun
concubine (plural concubines )
A concubine ; a secondary female partner .
( rare ) A illegitimate or unacknowledged partner ( male or female )
Descendants
References