mulieres

Mulieres is the plural form of the Latin noun mulier, which means a woman. In classical Latin the word is used to refer to women in general and can also indicate married women in contexts that contrast with men or with husbands. The term is distinct from uxor, which is more specifically “wife,” though mulier can carry nuances related to femininity and social role.

Grammar and forms: mulier is a third-declension feminine noun. Singular forms are: nominative mulier, genitive mulieris, dative mulieri, accusative mulierem, ablative muliere; vocative mulier. Plural forms are: nominative and accusative mulieres, genitive mulierum, dative mulieribus, ablative mulieribus; vocative mulieres. The plural mulieres thus corresponds to English “women” in both common and direct object usage.

Related terms: the adjective muliebris, meaning feminine or of women, derives from the same root and appears in compounds describing female-associated things or behavior. The word appears across Latin literature—from early authors to later periods—and is discussed in studies of Latin grammar and Roman society as part of exploring gender and social categories in the language.

Modern usage: outside linguistic or philological contexts, mulieres mainly serves as a historical or scholarly reference to Latin plural women; it is not used as a living term in modern Romance languages, where contemporary equivalents for “women” exist.