The etymology for the word wife is pretty straightforward. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it's derived from a handful European languages' words for woman. From Scandinavian and Romantic languages use of wif, wifman, or weib, it's easy to see how we got to the word wife. But husband doesn't just come from the word for man. In fact, it's the combination of a couple different words.

The term husband, translated literally, means the man who runs the house (via Online Etymology Dictionary). It doesn't even specify that a man has to be married — he just has to run a home. That's because the word is derived from the Old Norse words hus, or house, and bondi, which means a landowner or dweller, according to the Free Dictionary. Much like how wife came from words describing women regardless of their marital status, husband originally didn't have much to do with marriage. That association came later on.

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