妻

妻 (Kangxi radical 38, 女+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 十中女 (JLV), four-corner 5040₄, composition ⿱⿻一肀女)

• 凄 啛 悽 捿 淒 棲 䃀 褄 緀 𩸸 郪 㼮 鶈 萋 霋

• KangXi: page 257, character 30
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6140
• Dae Jaweon: page 522, character 25
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1036, character 2
• Unihan data for U+59BB

Historical forms of the character 妻
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 肀 (“hand grabbing hair”) + 女 (“woman”) ― a man grabbing a woman's hair to show ownership (marriage by capture).

Thought to be cognate to 齊 (OC *dzêi, “same, equal (adj.), in line”) (SWJZ; Karlgren, 1956) & interpreted as "an equal to her husband"; yet this is unlikely considering the realities of ancient societies (Schuessler, 2007).

Schuessler instead proposes Austroasiatic etymology: he reconstructs 妻 (OC *tshə̂i) < *k-sə̂i and compares it to Middle Khmer [script needed] (kansai, “wife”) (whence Khmer កន្សៃ (kɑnsay, “wife”)) and Khmer [script needed] (*khsay, “be female”) with *ka(n)- being a female marker (ibid.).

妻

1. wife

妻

1. ^† to give a wife to; to give as a wife; to become married to a man

   • 子謂公冶長，「可妻也。雖在縲絏之中，非其罪也」。以其子妻之。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     子谓公冶长，“可妻也。虽在缧绁之中，非其罪也”。以其子妻之。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE

     Zǐ wèi Gōngyě Cháng, “kě qì yě. Suī zài léiyì zhī zhōng, fēi qí zuì yě”. Yǐ qí zǐ qì zhī. [Pinyin]

     The Master said of Gongye Chang that he might be wived; although he was put in bonds, he had not been guilty of any crime. Accordingly, he gave him his own daughter to wife.

2. ^† to marry a woman

   • 好色，人之所欲，妻帝之二女，而不足以解憂； [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     好色，人之所欲，妻帝之二女，而不足以解忧； [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

     hǎosè, rén zhī suǒyù, qī dì zhī èrnǚ, ér bùzú yǐ jiěyōu; [Pinyin]

     To lust after feminine beauty is men's desire, and Shun married as wives Emperor Yao's two daughters, yet that was not enough to rid Shun of Shun's sorrow.

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. spouse

• Go-on: さい (sai, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せい (sei)
• Kun: つま (tsuma, 妻, Jōyō); めあわせる (meawaseru, 妻せる)

From 端 (tsuma, “side, edge”), indicating the person who is at the side of someone: a spouse.[1] Compare the English expression better half.

This term originally referred to either a male (husband) or female (wife) spouse. In modern usage, this term refers only to a female spouse.[1]

• 夫 (archaic)

• (Tokyo) つ​ま [tsúꜜmà] (Atamadaka – [1])[2]
• IPA^(key): [t͡sɨᵝma̠]

妻(つま) • (tsuma) 

1. (archaic) a spouse
2. (humble, only refers to one's own) a wife (married woman)
   • 1999 February 15 [Jun 20 1983], Tezuka, Osamu, “第８話　未知への挑戦 [Chapter 8: Challenge of the Third Kind]”, in ブラック・ジャック [Black Jack], volume 18 (fiction), 8th edition, Tokyo: Kodansha, →ISBN, page 176:

     先(せん)生(せい)………………私(わたし)の妻(つま)は美(うつく)しいでしょう？

     Sensei……………… watashi no tsuma wa utsukushii deshō?

     Doctor... Do you think my wife is beautiful?

     ああ！すばらしい美(び)人(じん)ですよ！

     Ā! Subarashii bijin desu yo!

     Sure! She’s a gorgeous lady!

• (one’s own wife): 家(か)内(ない) (kanai)
• (someone else's wife): 奥(おく)さん (okusan), 奥様(おくさま) (okusama)
• (spouse in general): 配偶者(はいぐうしゃ) (haigūsha)
• (dialectal, Kansai) 嫁(よめ) (yome)
• (dialectal, Kagoshima) うっかた (ukkata)

By extension from the at the side sense.[1]

• (Tokyo) つま​ [tsùmáꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[2]
• IPA^(key): [t͡sɨᵝma̠]

妻(つま) • (tsuma) 

1. a side dish
2. a tangent, a digression, something to the side of the main thing

From Middle Chinese 妻 (MC t͡sʰei, t͡sʰei^H, “wife”).

• (Tokyo) さ​い [sáꜜì] (Atamadaka – [1])[2]
• IPA^(key): [sa̠i]

妻(さい) • (sai) 

1. my wife
   • Isikawa Takuboku, Romazi Nikki

     Yo wa Sai wo aisiteru; aisiteru kara koso kono Nikki wo yomase taku nai no da.

     I love my Wife; it is precisely because I love her that I do not want her to read this Diary.

• Used chiefly in written texts such as letters.

From Middle Chinese 妻 (MC t͡sʰei).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕʰʌ̹]
• Phonetic hangul: [처]

Wikisource 妻 (eumhun 아내 처 (anae cheo))

1. Hanja form^? of 처 (“wife”).

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

妻: Hán Nôm readings: thê, thế

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.