Neuter

From Middle Dutch wijf, from Old Dutch wīf, from Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą. While initially a neutral term for "woman", the word came to be associated first with lower-class women from the seventeenth century onwards, and over the following centuries developed into a largely derogatory term for woman who is disliked or at least somewhat disrespected by the speaker. Nonetheless, in some dialects the word remained neutral even into the twentieth century.

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