A person who is married to two people at the same time, or who has been married more than once.
From Medieval Latin 'bigamista', formed from 'bigamus' plus the agent suffix '-ista'. The word became common in English legal contexts.
In 19th-century literature, the bigamist was a stock character of scandal and drama—the hidden second wife or husband would be revealed to cause maximum plot upheaval, like in novels by Wilkie Collins.
Legal and moral condemnation of bigamy applied unevenly by gender; women faced harsher social penalties and had fewer legal protections in plural marriage situations than men in most historical contexts.
Use the term, but when historical or contextual, specify gender where it shaped outcomes or consequences.
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