Cuckold

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Sat May 02, 2009 2:58 pm

cuckold old use, derisive noun a man whose wife is unfaithful (Source: Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)

Is there or has there ever been a word or words ("preferably" derisive) in English for a woman whose husband is unfaithful? (Does it matter, you reply!

). I'm assuming that it's at least a "modern" lexical gap (i.e. that there may not have been a term for 'woman whose husband is unfaithful' in the past either).

ouyang · Post by **ouyang** » Sun May 03, 2009 2:13 am

I would be surprised if 50% of college students knew what "cuckold" means. I doubt that there is a comparable word for females.

Some Chinese girls once asked me if there was an English word for a man who always cheats on his girlfriend. I was pleased to tell them the word "playboy" basically had that meaning. The playboy logo can be found in a great many Chinese clothing stores.

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Sun May 03, 2009 7:29 pm

How about this?

http://www.dictionarist.com/abandoned+woman

We feel pity rather than hurl insults, unless we are Dutch, it seems!

Metamorfose · Post by **Metamorfose** » Sun May 03, 2009 9:37 pm

I can speak for Portuguese, we have corno for cuckold and technically we would have corna for women who were cheated on but it does not have the same semantic power as the former, therefore nobody uses it.

José

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Mon May 04, 2009 3:07 pm

Is there or has there ever been a word or words ("preferably" derisive) in English for a woman whose husband is unfaithful?

'Married'?

MrPedantic · Post by **MrPedantic** » Mon May 04, 2009 9:17 pm

"Cuckquean" for the female equivalent turns up in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama; Joyce revives it in Ulysses (for the old woman who brings the milk).

Not I think an intuitive word; it seems to imply the more active party.

MrP