Etymology

mal mariée

Today it means: A young woman with a much older, jealous, and controlling husband, especially as a literary motif in medieval European romances. Full definition →

French mal mariée
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The story

  1. French · learned borrowing frommal mariée“poorly married [woman]”
  2. English todaymal mariée

Learned borrowing from French mal mariée (“poorly married [woman]”). Compare Middle French maumariée (from mau- + mariée).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.