wifeless

• wiveless, wyueles (obsolete)

From Middle English wyfles, wifles, possibly from Old English wīflēas (“wifeless”), equivalent to wife +‎ -less.

wifeless (not comparable)

1. Having no wife; unmarried or celibate.
2. Without a wife present.
   • 1962, Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire:

     I at once telephoned. The Shades were out, said the cheeky ancillula, an obnoxious little fan who came to cook for them on Sundays and no doubt dreamt of getting the old poet to cuddle her some wifeless day.

• wivesless