Word of the Day

: March 29, 2010

uxorial

adjective uk-SOR-ee-ul

What It Means

: of, relating to, or characteristic of a wife

uxorial in Context

“He watered the plants, cleared aspen leaves and debris from the rock garden, and cut the lawn … without any uxorial prompting.” (Rois M. Beal, The Washington Post, July 19, 2007)

Did You Know?

With help from "-ial," "-ious," and "-icide," the Latin word "uxor," meaning "wife," has given us the English words "uxorial," "uxorious" (meaning "excessively fond of or submissive to a wife"), and "uxoricide" ("murder of a wife by her husband" or "a wife murderer"). Do we have equivalent "husband" words? Well, sort of. "Maritus" means "husband" in Latin, so "marital" can mean "of or relating to a husband and his role in marriage" (although "maritus" also means "married," and the "of or relating to marriage or the married state" sense of "marital" is far more common). And while "mariticide" is "spouse killing," it can also be specifically "husband-killing."