Dictionary

wittol en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈwɪtəl/

Etymology

From Middle English witewold; likely a blend of witen (“to know”) + cockewold (“cuckold”), equivalent to wit + cuckold.

Meanings

1. (archaic) A man who knows and tolerates his wife's infidelity with another man or men; a mari complaisant.
   • So the Ifrit cried at her, "Thou whorest and makest me a wittol with thine eyes;" and struck her so that her head went flying. 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Night 13”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:
   • God help the husband that obliges his wife's least whim: he'll be a wittol ere he's two years wed! 1960, John Barth, The Sot-Weed Factor:
   • To see […] a wittol wink at his wife's honesty, and too perspicuous in all other affairs […] 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
2. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) A bird, the wheatear.

Forms

Deriveds

wittolly

Relateds

wittoldry · cuckquean · cuckold · mari complaisant

Translations (6)

ca marit còmode (man who knows and tolerates his wife’s infidelity) · it cornuto contento (man who knows and tolerates his wife’s infidelity) · ca cabró (man who knows and tolerates his wife’s infidelity) · pt corno manso (man who knows and tolerates his wife’s infidelity) · cy cwcwallt trugarog (man who knows and tolerates his wife’s infidelity) · it becco (man who knows and tolerates his wife’s infidelity)