Etymology

concubine

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Today it means: A sexual partner, especially a woman, to whom one is not or cannot be married. Full definition →

Middle English concubine ← Anglo-Norman concubine ← Latin concubīna
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromconcubīna
  2. Anglo-Norman · derived fromconcubine
  3. Middle English · inherited fromconcubine
  4. English todayconcubine

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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.