Etymology

ex-wife

Today it means: A former wife (from a previous marriage after a divorce). Full definition →

English wife ← Middle English wyf ← Old English wīf
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰ
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰs
  3. Proto-Italic*eks
  4. Latinex
  5. Latinex-
  6. Middle Frenchex-
  7. Middle Englishex-
  8. Englishex-
  9. Proto-Germanic*wībą
  10. Proto-West Germanic*wīb
  11. Old Englishwīf
  12. Middle Englishwyf
  13. Englishwife
  14. English todayex-wife

From ex- + wife.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.