Taxonomy of meanings for 妻:　　

  • 妻 qī (OC: tshiil MC: tsʰei) 七稽切 平 廣韻：【齊也七稽切又七計切十 】
    • WIFE
      • n(post-N)main wife of a contextually determinate person; someone's main wife; one's main wife
      • npost-Nmain wife of N
      • n[post-N]one's wife
      • early meaning, specifically royal>CONCUBINE
    • 妻 qì (OC: tshiils MC: tsʰei) 七計切 去 廣韻：【以女妻人又七兮切 】
      • MARRY
        • vt(oN1.)+VtoN2marry N2 to the contextually determinate N1
        • vttoN1.post-vtoN2{OBJ}provide (someone N1) with a wife (often one's own daughter)
        • vtoNpassivebe given a wife in marriage 可妻
        • vtt(oN1.)+N2marry the contextually determinate person N1 off to N2
        • vttoN1:postvtoN2cause to take as a wife> marry (one's daughter N2) off (to someone N1), give away as a wife (one's daughter N2) to (someone N1) 以其女妻之
        • vtoNmarry into (somebody N's family)
        • vttoN1:+vtoN2provide N1 with the wife N2; marry N1 off to N2
        • vtoNN=bridegroommarry off to one's own daughter
        • vtoNtake N as a wifeCH
        • object lady married to someone else>COPULATE
          • vtoNhave extramarital relations with; treat as a wifeCH

      Additional information about 妻

      說文解字: 【妻】，婦與夫齊者也。 〔小徐本「夫」作「己」。〕 从女、从屮、从又，又，持事，妻職也。 〔小徐本下有「屮聲。」〕 【臣鉉等曰：屮者，進也。齊之義也，故从屮。】 【七稽切】 【𡜈】，古文妻从𡭙、女。𡭙，古文貴字。

        Criteria
      • WIFE

        1. The most general term for a commoner's female mate is fù 婦 (ant. fū 夫 "husband").

        2. Qī 妻 (ant. fū 夫 "husband") refers to the regular main wife, and specifically to a commoner's main wife.

        3. Nèi 內 refers generically to the harem.

        4. Hòu 后 (ant. wáng 王 "king") refers to a queen. See QUEEN

        5. Shì 室 is a polite circumlocution for a wife.

        6. Aυ 媼 (ant. wēng 翁 "old man") is a general term for a married woman, and the word is marginal in this group because it does not focus on the relationship to the mate.

        7. Fū rén 夫人 is a current phrase for a wife.

      • MARRY

        1. The general term for marriage as such is the relatively rare word hūn 婚 and the even rarer hūn yīn 婚 / 昏姻 which refer to marriage in general and not to marriage as seen from the perspective of one of the parties.

        2. The general term for a man marrying a woman is qǔ 娶 (ant. chū 出 "divorce").

        3. The general term for a woman marrying a man is jià 嫁 (No antonym, since women could not seek divorce.).

        4. Guī 歸 refers to a woman leaving her own clan and moving into ther husband's household.

        5. Qì 妻 refers to the convention of giving away a woman in marriage to a man.

        6. Shì 室 refers to the act of establishing a household through taking a wife.

        7. Shì 適 refers to a woman finding a husband (no doubt as a result of a parental decision, but this is not what is focussed on here).

        8. Gòu 媾 refers to double intermarriage between two clans such that a son or daughter of family X marries into family Y, and in addition another marriage is conducted so that another son or daughter from X marries another son or daughter of family Y.

        Word relations
      • Epithet: (WIFE)正/CORRECT The standard word for conformity with an established standard of behavioural or physical allignment zhèng 正(ant. xié 邪).
      • Contrast: (WIFE)妾/CONCUBINE Qiè 妾 (ant. fū 夫 "husband") refers to the concubine.
      • Assoc: (WIFE)子/CHILD The commonest word for a child is zǐ 子"son; child; rarely: baby".
      • Oppos: (WIFE)身/SELF Shēn 身 typically refers to the subject in a contrastive way, and the word is often hard to distinguish from the nominal concept of a person. Adverbially, the word is different from PERSONALLY in that it does not connote distinction in the agent.