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Glite Dictionary
🧂 Biblical woman 🧂 Regretful person
Lot's wife

Lot's wife

1 9.9
A woman in the Bible who turned into a pillar of salt after looking back at Sodom
  • noun
  • /lɑts waɪf/
  • Literature
translation icon : la mujer de Lot
  • According to the Bible, Lot's wife was transformed into a pillar of salt after she longed for her past in Sodom.

Examples

  • "But Lot's wife looked back longingly and was turned into a pillar of salt."

    House of D (2004)

  • Lot's wife looked back at the city and was instantly turned into a pillar of salt.

  • The postmodern novelist cannot avoid "facing toward an unthinkable end," just as he cannot prevent himself from "looking over his shoulder... toward the noise from which one came" (156) at the risk of being turned into a pillar of salt like Lot's wife.

    Academic text (1994)

  • In the story, Lot's wife disobeyed God by glancing back, which led to her becoming a pillar of salt.

Surface Forms

Lot's wife singular
Lot's wives plural

Morphology

Lot's + wife

This is a culture-specific Biblical allusion: the meaning (someone who looks back with regret) depends on knowing the story of Lot's wife rather than on the literal parts. Knowing the constituents 'Lot's' (a proper name) and 'wife' (a married woman) gives no predictable cue to the idiomatic sense, so learners must have prior cultural exposure.

Etymology

Lot's wife comes from a Bible story: when Lot's and his family left the city of Sodom, God told them not to look back, but his wife looked and was turned into a pillar of salt, so the name refers to that woman.