mari complaisant

mari complaisant

English

WOTD – 24 July 2011

Etymology

Borrowed from French mari (“husband”) + complaisant (“tolerant, acquiescent”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌmaɹi ˈkɒ̃(m)plɛzɒ̃/, /ˌmaɹi kɒ̃(m)plɛˈzɒ̃/

  Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /məˌɹi kɑmplɛˈzɑnt/

Noun

mari complaisant (plural maris complaisants)

1. A husband who tolerates his spouse's adultery. [from 19th c.]
   • 1957, Lawrence Durrell, Justine:

     She was reputed to have had many lovers, and Nessim was regarded as a mari complaisant.

   • 1988, James Fox, White Mischief:

     “And when Vera wanted to go off with Lord Moyne, he would say, ‘I hope you have fun. God bless you. See you when you get back.’ That's not to say his feelings weren't hurt. He was too weak to say no — a mari complaisant.”

   • 2005, Nick Cohen, The Guardian, 6 Nov 2005:

     Stephen Quinn, mari complaisant of Blunkett's former lover, Kimberly Quinn, told a colleague of mine that he resented being called rich.

Translations

husband who tolerates his wife's adultery

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Armenian: կնոջ անհավատարմությունը չտեսնելու տվող ամուսին (knoǰ anhavatarmutʿyunə čʿtesnelu tvoł amusin) Chinese: Mandarin: 乌龟 (zh), 戴绿帽子 (zh)的人 Czech: spokojený paroháč Finnish: salliva mies French: mari complaisant m German: Cuckold m Hindi: please add this translation if you can Italian: please add this translation if you can Japanese: please add this translation if you can Korean: please add this translation if you can Portuguese: corno manso m Russian: муж, закрыва́ющий глаза́ на неве́рность жены́ m (muž, zakryvájuščij glazá na nevérnostʹ žený) Spanish: please add this translation if you can Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• cuckold
• wittol

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.ʁi kɔ̃.plɛ.zɑ̃/, /ma.ʁi kɔ̃.ple.zɑ̃/

Noun

mari complaisant m (plural maris complaisants)

1. mari complaisant