goodwife
See also: Goodwife
English
Alternative forms
- (title): Goodwife
Etymology
From Middle English goodwyf, godwyf, godwif, equivalent to good + wife.
Noun
goodwife (plural goodwives)
- (obsolete) A female head of a household.
- 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:
- "O my lord the Sultan," said the other [the Wazir], "verily women be weakly of wits, and haply this goodwife cometh hither to complain before thee against her goodman or some of her people."
- (obsolete) A title of respect for a woman.
- Goodwife Hopkins
Synonyms
- (title): Mrs
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
- (title): goody