concubine

n.

1. Law. A woman who cohabits with a man without being legally married to him.
2. In certain societies, such as imperial China, a woman contracted to a man as a secondary wife, often having few legal rights and low social status.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin concubīna : com-, com- + cubāre, to lie down.]

(Heb. pilegesh). In Jewish law, a Jewish woman who lives exclusively with a Jewish man without the benefit of a full Jewish marriage ceremony. While some rabbis believe that such a woman, deprived of both a ḥuppah (Jewish marriage ceremony) and a Ketubbah (formal Jewish marriage contract) is indeed a concubine, others believe that only a woman married under a ḥuppah but lacking a ketubbah has the status of a concubine. The former view is prevalent.

While the majority of rabbis forbid the taking of a concubine, regarding it as a violation of Jewish law, there is a minority views that while taking a concubine is to be strongly condemned, it is not strictly forbidden, and even a view that as long as the woman observes the menstrual laws and attends a Mikveh (ritual bath) there is nothing in the codes to make concubinage reprehensible.

While a concubine is not strictly required to receive a get (a Jewish bill of Divorce), many rabbis require it for the sake of appearances rather than as a requirement of Jewish law.

There have been a few isolated voices in recent times, generally out of touch with the mainstream of Jewish communal life, who have advocated a return to the institution of concubinage as a means of solving one of the most pressing problems in modern-day Jewish life---that of the Agunah (abandoned or captive wife), namely a woman whose husband either refuses or is unable to give her a Jewish divorce and who is thus prevented from remarrying. The logic here is that if there is no valid Jewish marriage ceremony, there is no real need for a get.

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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a woman who cohabits with an important man
  Synonyms: courtesan, doxy, odalisque, paramour

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - papirløs ægtefælle, elskerinde, medhustru, konkubine

Nederlands (Dutch)
bijzit, bijvrouw

Français (French)
n. - concubine

Deutsch (German)
n. - Konkubine, Nebenfrau

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - παλλακίδα, ερωμένη (κν. σπιτωμένη)

Italiano (Italian)
concubina

Português (Portuguese)
n. - concubina (f)

Русский (Russian)
наложница

Español (Spanish)
n. - concubina

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - konkubin, bihustru

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
妾, 姘妇, 情妇

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 妾, 姘婦, 情婦

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 첩

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 内縁の妻, めかけ, 第一夫人以外の妻

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) خليله, محظيه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮בחברות פוליגמיות: אישה משנית, פילגש‬

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