wive
part of speech
verb (wive, wives, wived, wiving — archaic)
meaning for a pupil
1) (archaic) To wive is to marry a woman, or to take a wife. This old verb is almost never used now. tree →
2) As a fragment, «wive» is usually part of «wives», the plural of «wife». tree →
sense in the lessons
Found only in very old writing, such as Shakespeare's plays and old ballads. Pupils are far more likely to meet «wives» (the plural of «wife») or to see «wive» as a typo. In everyday English say «marry».
examples
- In an old play, a man says he has come «to wive and thrive». tree →
- Henry the Eighth had six wives. tree →
- «Wive» is an old word; today we say «marry». tree →
- The farmers' wives sold butter at the market. tree →
note
Archaic: do not use it in modern writing. Plural of «wife» is «wives» (f changes to v + es), like knife → knives, life → lives. «Wive» alone is not the singular of «wives» — the singular is «wife».
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «wive» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.