vợ hai
Một người đàn ông giàu có sống trong một ngôi nhà lớn cùng vợ hai của ông ta.
Definition
- Noun:
- Second wife / junior wife: A woman married to a man who already has a wife, within a historical or cultural context that permits or tolerated polygamy. This term specifically denotes the wife married after the first, primary wife (vợ cả).
- Concubine: In some contexts, it can refer to a secondary, non-marital partner with a recognized but lower status than the primary wife.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Trong xã hội phong kiến, một người đàn ông giàu có có thể có cả vợ cả lẫn vợ hai. (In feudal society, a wealthy man could have both a primary wife and a second wife.)
- Câu chuyện kể về số phận đau khổ của một người vợ hai. (The story tells of the tragic fate of a second wife.)
Advanced Usage
- The term is primarily historical and carries strong connotations of gender inequality and patriarchal social structures. Its use in modern contexts is often critical, analytical, or found in period literature and drama.
- It explicitly indicates a hierarchy, distinguishing the woman from the primary, officially recognized first wife.
Variants and Related Words
- Vợ cả (n): primary wife, first wife (the principal and highest-ranking wife).
- Vợ lẽ (n): a general, often more colloquial term for a concubine or secondary wife.
- Thiếp (n): a classical term for a concubine or secondary wife.
Synonyms
- Concubine: a woman who lives with a man but has lower status than a wife.
- Junior wife: a wife of secondary rank.
- Second wife: in a polygamous arrangement.
Cultural and Usage Notes
- Important Note: The practice of having multiple wives or concubines () is illegal in contemporary Vietnam. The term "vợ hai" is therefore not used for modern legal marriages but refers to historical practice or, metaphorically, to an extramarital affair.
- The term often implies a formalized, socially acknowledged (though subordinate) position, distinct from a secret mistress ().