épouse

Épouse is a French noun that designates a married woman; it is the feminine form of époux. In everyday speech, femme is often used for a wife, while épouse tends to appear in formal, legal, or literary contexts. The plural épouses refers to multiple wives. The term can also appear in set phrases such as les époux to refer to the married couple collectively.

Épouser is the related verb meaning to marry. Its conjugations include j’épouse, tu épouses, il épouse, nous épousons, vous épousez, ils épousent, with the infinitive épouser. The verb can also be used figuratively in the sense of adopting or supporting something, as in espouse a cause.

Etymology traces épouse to Old French espouser, historically linked to the verb family meaning to marry; the concept and form are cognate with the English verb espouse, both ultimately derived from Latin uxor, wife, through Romance-language development.

In legal and civil contexts, époux and épouse designate the male and female partners in a marriage, often appearing in notarial acts, property regimes, and matrimonial clauses. In contemporary, informal French, simpler terms like mari and femme or conjoint may be used, but époux/épouse remains common in formal and official language.

See also: mari, femme, conjoint, marriage, espouse (cognate English term).