sposiate

Sposiate is the feminine plural form of the Italian adjective and past participle sposato, meaning “married.” It is used to describe women who are married and can also function as a noun (una sposata) in colloquial speech to mean “a married woman.” The form agrees with feminine plural nouns, as in donne sposate or coppie sposate.

Grammatically, sposate can serve as an adjective that accompanies a noun (sposate coppie, donne sposate) or as the past participle in verb phrases with essere, where it agrees with the subject: Le donne si sono sposate (the women got married). When used as a noun, it refers to a married woman in informal contexts, though more formal language would typically use phrases like donne sposate or coniugate.

Etymology and related terms: The verb sposare comes from Latin sponsare, derived from sponsus, meaning betrothed or promised spouse. Related modern Italian forms include sposa (wife) and sposo (husband). The feminine plural form sposate follows standard Italian gender and number agreement rules for adjectives and participles derived from verbs.

Usage notes: Sposiate is common in everyday Italian and widely understood. In formal writing, authors may prefer neutral terms such as coniugi or simply refer to individuals as married without using a gendered participle. The masculine counterpart is sposato (singular) or sposati (plural), and the feminine singular is sposata.