Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Concubine |
ConcubineNoun1. A woman who cohabits with an important man. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "concubine" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
Etymology: Concubine \Con"cu*bine\, noun. [French expression, from the Latin expression concubina; con- cubare to lie down, concumbere to lie together, akin to English cubit.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definition |
Bible | Concubine in the Bible denotes a female conjugally united to a man, but in a relation inferior to that of a wife. Among the early Jews, from various causes, the difference between a wife and a concubine was less marked than it would be amongst us. The concubine was a wife of secondary rank. There are various laws recorded providing for their protection (Ex. 21:7; Deut. 21:10-14), and setting limits to the relation they sustained to the household to which they belonged (Gen. 21:14; 25:6). They had no authority in the family, nor could they share in the household government. The immediate cause of concubinage might be gathered from the conjugal histories of Abraham and Jacob (Gen. 16;30). But in process of time the custom of concubinage degenerated, and laws were made to restrain and regulate it (Ex. 21:7-9). Christianity has restored the sacred institution of marriage to its original character, and concubinage is ranked with the sins of fornication and adultery (Matt. 19:5-9; 1 Cor. 7:2). Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Dream Interpretation | For a man to dream that he is in company with a concubine, forecasts he is in danger of public disgrace, striving to keep from the world his true character and state of business. For a woman to dream that she is a concubine, indicates that she will degrade herself by her own improprieties. For a man to dream that his mistress is untrue, denotes that he has old enemies to encounter. Expected reverses will arise. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: ConcubineSynonyms: courtesan (n), doxy (n), odalisque (n), paramour (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Libertine | Concubine, mistress, doxy, chere amie, bona roba. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Concubine |
| English words defined with "concubine": Kept mistress ♦ Trug. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "concubine": Briseis ♦ Hetærism ♦ Leilah ♦ Myrra ♦ Rosamond ♦ Sardanapalus, Seyd. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Concubine" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. French (concubine). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | She may have my son's name, but it is we, the ones who carry the name concubine, that history will call wives. (Dune; writing credit: John Harrison) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Concubine" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 92.86% of the time. "Concubine" is used about 28 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 92.86% | 26 | 68,323 |
| Noun (proper) | 7.14% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 28 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
concubine | 112 |
farewell my concubine | 40 |
concubine finding | 7 |
concubine lyrics transylvanian | 3 |
concubine shogun tokugawa | 3 |
nihao my concubine | 3 |
concubine transylvanian | 2 |
concubine definition | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "concubine"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | mantenutë (doxy), grua pa kurorë, grua e dytë. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | محظية (mistress), خليلة (mistress, paramour, woman), السرية (company). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | конкубина, незаконна съпруга, наложница. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 姘妇, 妾 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | konkubína. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | bývrouw. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | kromvirino. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | متعه , همخوابه , صیغه , رفیقه (Paramour). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | jalkavaimo (mistress). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | concubine (common law wife). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | konkubine. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | παλλακίδα (mistress). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מא"בת (lover, mistress), לח " (mistress), שכוב", ש'ל (consort, mistress, paramour, wife, woman), פיל'ש (mistress). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | ágyas. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | selir, gundik (mistress), gendak (mistress). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | concubina. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 色女 , 二号 (number two), 側女 , 妾 (I, kept woman, mistress). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | そばめ, に"う (number two), いろお"な, めかけ (kept woman, mistress). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | colhiabbagh (bedfellow, mistress). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | oncubinecay concubina (doxy, kept woman, mistress). (various references) concubinã (paramour). (various references) наложница. (various references) konkubina. (various references) concubina. (various references) konkubin, bihustru. (various references) cariye (female slave, odalisque), sevgili (beau, beloved, darling, dear, dearie, deary, dove, doxy, duck, duckie, ducky, fancy man, favorite, favourite, feller, fellow, flame, gallant, Gill, girl, inamorata, inamorato, Jill, ladylove, love, loved, lover, paramour, pet, precious, queen, steady, sweetheart, sweetie, sweety, Truelove, well-beloved), nikâhsız eş (common wife), metres (fancy woman, kept woman, leman, mistress, paramour). (various references) кохана (beloved, girl friend, inamorata, ladylove, lass, love, lover, sweet, sweetheart, sweetie), наложниця (bedfellow, sultana), молодша дружина. (various references) vợ lẽ, n ng hầu gái bao. (various references) cyffoden (mistress), gordderch. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | concubina, concubinae, concubinam, concubinaque, concubinarum, concubinas, concubinasque, concubinis, concubitores, concubitoribus, coniuge, coniugem, coniuges, coniugibus, coniugium, coniugum, coniux, pelicano. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Genesis Chapter 22, Verse 24 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Kai h pallakh autou h onoma rehma eteken kai auth ton tabek kai ton gaam kai ton tocoV kai ton mwca |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Concubina vero illius nomine Roma peperit Tabee et Gaom et Thaas et Maacha |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | Hwæðre hys unrihthæmedcwene þe hatte Roma, him gestrynde Tabee, ond Gaham ond Tahas ond Maacha.] |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | The secundarie wijf forsothe of hym, Roma bi name, bare Thabee, and Gaon, and Thaas, and Maacha. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And his concubyne called Rheuma she bare also Tebah Gaham Thahas and Maacha. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bore also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And his servant Reumah gave birth to Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Genesis Chapter 22, Verse 24 |
| Cebuano | Ug ang iyang puyopuyo nga gihinganlan si Reuma, nanganak usab kang Teba, ug kang Gaham, ug kang Taas, ug kang Maacha. |
| Chinese | 拿 鶴 的 妾 名 叫 流 瑪 、 " 了 提 八 、 迦 含 、 他 轄 、 ' 瑪 迦 。 |
| Croatian | A i njegova suložnica, kojoj bijaše ime Reuma, rodila je Tebaha, Gahama, Tahaša i Maaku. |
| Danish | og desuden har hans Medhustru Re'uma født Teba, Gaham, Tahasj og Ma'aka." |
| Dutch | En zijn bijwijf, welker naam was Reuma, diezelve baarde ook Tebah, en Gaham, en Tahas, en Maacha. |
| Finnish | Ja hänen sivuvaimonsa, nimeltä Reuma, synnytti myös lapsia: Tebahin, Gahamin, Tahaan ja Maakan. |
| French | Sa concubine, nommée Réuma, a aussi enfanté Thébach, Gaham, Tahasch et Maaca. |
| German | Und sein Kebsweib, mit Namen Rehuma, gebar auch, nämlich den Tebah, Gaham, Thahas und Maacha. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Nahor mempunyai selir yang bernama Reuma dan selir itu melahirkan Tebah, Gaham, Tahas dan Maakha. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka gundiknya yang bernama Riumah itupun beranakkan Tebah dan Gaham dan Tahasy dan Maakha. |
| Italian | Anche la sua concubina, chiamata Reuma, partorì figli: Tebach, Gacam, Tacas e Maaca. |
| Maori | A ko tana wahine iti, tona ingoa nei ko Reuma, i whanau ano ana, ko Tepa ratou ko Kahama, ko Tahaha, ko Maaka. |
| Norwegian | Også hans medhustru, som hette Re'uma, fikk barn: Tebah og Gaham og Tahas og Ma'aka. |
| Portuguese | E a sua concubina, que se chamava Reumá, também deu luz a Teba, Gaão, Taás e Maacá. |
| Rumanian | Yiitoarea lui, numitq Reuma, a nqscut wi ea, pe Tebah, Gaham, Tahaw wi Maaca. |
| Russian | Й ОБМПЦОЙ"Б ЕЗП, ЙНЕОЕН тЕХНБ, ФБЛЦЕ ТП"ЙМБ фЕЧБИБ, зБИБНБ, фБИБЫБ Й нББИХ. |
| Spanish | Y su concubina, que se llamaba Reúma, dio a luz también a Tébaj, a Gajam, a Tajas y a Maaca. |
| Swedish | Och hans bihustru, som hette Reuma, födde ock barn, nämligen Teba, Gaham, Tahas och Maaka. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "concubine": concubines. (additional references) | |
| |
"Concubine" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cancubine, cocubine, concabine, concebine, concoubine, concubin, concubina, concuebine, concuine, conqubine. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "concubine" (pronounced kÄ"nkyubī'n) |
| 3 | -b ī' n | carbine, Columbine. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-c-c-e-i-n-n-o-u" | |
-3 letters: boccie, bonnie, bounce, bunion, conine, nuncio. | |
-4 letters: benni, bocce, bocci, bonne, bunco, conic, conin, cubic, ennui, nonce, ounce, union. | |
-5 letters: bice, bine, bone, bunn, cine, cion, coin, cone, coni, conn, cube, ebon, icon, neon, nice, nine, none, noun, once, unbe, unci, unco. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-c-c-e-i-n-n-o-u" | |
+1 letter: concubines. | |
+2 letters: concubinage. | |
+3 letters: concubinages. | |
+4 letters: unconceivable. | |
+5 letters: incommunicable, uncommunicable, unconscionable, unreconcilable. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Translations: Ancient 10. Bible Trace 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
