Concubine
//ˈkɑŋkjəbaɪn// noun
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A sexual partner, especially a woman, to whom one is not or cannot be married.
- 2 a woman who cohabits with an important man wordnet
- 3 A woman who lives with a man, but who is not a wife.
"And that is more than I will yield unto: / I know I am too mean to be your queen, / And yet too good to be your concubine."
- 4 A slave-girl or woman, kept for instance in a harem, who is held for sexual service. historical
"He ſhall be made a chaſte and luſtleſſe Eunuch, And in my Sarell tend my Concubines:"
Example
More examples"And when he dwelt in that country, Ruben went, and slept with Bala the concubine of his father: which he was not ignorant of."
Etymology
From Middle English concubine (first attested 1250–1300), from Anglo-Norman concubine, from Latin concubīna, equivalent to concub- (variant stem of concumbō (“to lie together”)) + feminine suffix -īna.
Related phrases
More for "concubine"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.