奥さん

おくさん · okusan · JLPT N5 · noun

wife

奥さん — wife

👰 奥 = inner part of the house + さん: the lady of the interior

奥 (oku) means the back or inner part of a house, where the mistress of a household traditionally lived. Add the polite さん and you get an honorific for another man's wife. Never use it for your own wife: that is 妻 or 家内.

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