wif

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word wif. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word wif, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say wif in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word wif you have here. The definition of the word wif will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofwif, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: WIF

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Alteration of with.

Pronunciation

Preposition

wif

  1. (informal, dialectal, nonstandard) with
    • 1998, Ted Shine, Contributions, →ISBN, page 31:
      That's what I mo' wear wif my shoes.
    • 2000, Jan King, It'a A Girl Thing: The Hilarious Truth About Women, →ISBN, page 161:
      I been at the gym gettin' down wif my peeps.
    • 2002, Stan Hayes, The Rough English Equivalent, →ISBN, page 324:
      If I don' have no problem wif my high school test?

Anagrams

Mapudungun

Adjective

wif (Raguileo spelling)

  1. long
  2. straight

Adverb

wif (Raguileo spelling)

  1. directly

Noun

wif (Raguileo spelling)

  1. irrigation ditch

References

  • Wixaleyiñ: Mapucezugun-wigkazugun pici hemvlcijka (Wixaleyiñ: Small Mapudungun-Spanish dictionary), Beretta, Marta; Cañumil, Dario; Cañumil, Tulio, 2008.

Middle English

Noun

wif

  1. Alternative form of wyf

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą.

Cognate with Old Frisian wīf, Old Saxon wīf, Old English wīf, Old High German wīb, Old Norse víf.

Pronunciation

Noun

wīf n

  1. woman
    • c. 1000 CE, Leiden Willeram;
      Thie thiernan sahon sie ande zaldon sie ze aller wivo saligosta
      The girls saw her and counted her as the most fortunate of all women
    • c. 1100 CE, Rhinelandic Rhyming Bible;
      Thure sinen bosen nith betroch er thaz arme wif
      Because of his evil hate, he decieved that poor woman
  2. (rare) wife

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Middle Dutch: wijf
    • Dutch: wijf
      • Afrikaans: wyf
      • Jersey Dutch: wāif
      • Negerhollands: wief, wif
      • Skepi Creole Dutch: weef
      • Sranan Tongo: wefi
    • Limburgish: wief
    • West Flemish: wuuf
    • Zealandic: wuuf

References

wīf”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą, of uncertain origin.

Cognate with Old Frisian wīf, Old Saxon wīf, Old Dutch wīf, Old High German wīb, Old Norse víf.

Pronunciation

Noun

wīf n

  1. woman
    • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Annunciation of St. Mary"
      Ūs becōm dēaþ and forwyrd þurh wīf, and ūs becōm eft līf and hredding þurh wīfmann.
      Death and disaster came to us through a woman , and then life and salvation came to us through a woman .
    • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, John 4:27
      His leornungcneohtas wundrodon þæt hē wiþ wīf spræc, þēah heora nān ne cwæþ “Hwæt sēcst þū?” oþþe “Hwæt spricst þū wiþ hīe?”
      His disciples were amazed that he was talking to a woman, though none of them said “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking to her?”
  2. female
  3. wife

Usage notes

  • Since wīf is a grammatically neuter noun, all accompanying articles, determiners, and adjectives take neuter forms: þæt ealde wīf ("the old woman").
  • However, pronouns referring back to wīf are almost always feminine: Ġesiehst þū þæt wīf sēo þǣr stent? Canst þū hīe? ("Do you see the woman who is standing there? Do you know her?"). The same applies to the neuter word mæġden (girl) and the masculine word wīfmann (woman), whose grammatical genders also disagree with their natural genders.

Declension

Antonyms

  • wer (with respect to gender)

Derived terms

Descendants

Old Frisian

Alternative forms

  • wiif (Late Old Frisian)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą, of uncertain origin. Cognates include Old English wīf, Old Saxon wīf and Old Dutch wīf.

Pronunciation

Noun

wīf n

  1. woman
  2. wife

Descendants

References

  • Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

West Frisian

Pronunciation

Adjective

wif

  1. shaky
  2. impermanent
  3. fickle, indecisive

Inflection

Inflection of wif
uninflected wif
inflected wiffe
comparative wiffer
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial wif wiffer it wifst
it wifste
indefinite c. sing. wiffe wiffere wifste
n. sing. wif wiffer wifste
plural wiffe wiffere wifste
definite wiffe wiffere wifste
partitive wifs wiffers

Further reading

  • wif”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011