Concubine meaning: The meaning of CONCUBINE is a

The meaning of CONCUBINE is a woman with whom a man cohabits without being married. Throughout history, there have been instances when it was considered acceptable for an important man to keep a woman, not his wife, as a mistress. These women were called concubines , and they often were treated better than the man’s wife. The term concubine (c. 1300), meaning " a paramour , a woman who cohabits with a man without being married to him", comes from the Latin concubina (f.) and concubinus (m.), terms that in Roman law meant "one who lives unmarried with a married man or woman". In former times, a concubine was a woman who lived with and had a sexual relationship with a man of higher social rank without always being married to him.