sister-wife

• sister wife

Compound of sister +‎ wife.

sister-wife (plural sister-wives)

1. A woman who is simultaneously sister and wife to her spouse.

   Coordinate term: brother-husband

   • 1743, trans. Philip Francis, “Odes”, in Horace, volume III, iii, page 64:

     My Grecians shall victorious prove, By me led on to War, the Sister-Wife of Jove.

   • 1853, Henry N. Humphreys, The coin collector's manual, page 118:

     Ptolemy VII […] married Cleopatra, the sister-wife of his predecessor.

   • 1974, Joseph Fontenrose, Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins, page 257:

     Anat as sister-wife of Baal, Isis as mother of Horos and sister-wife of Osiris, Hera as sister-wife of Zeus

2. In a polygamous marriage, a woman who is simultaneously the sister and co-wife of another.
   • 1853, quoted in Robert Cox, Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, page 194:

     Enmities between sister-wives will [be,] from their having known each other too intimately all their lives, more unmannerly than where they are strangers to each other

3. A co-wife in general.
   • 2006, Xiaoxiaosheng, trans. David Tod Roy, The plum in the golden vase, or, Chin P'ing Mei, page 21:

     Yüeh-niang and her sister-wives, all dressed in formal gowns, came out from inside to greet them and ushered them into the rear reception hall

   • 2008, Miriam Koktvedgaard Zeitzen, Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, page 97:

     The concept of 'sisterhood' was popularly applied to the official organizations for Mormon women, and Mormon co-wives were and are still known as 'sister-wives'