The saying "man and wife" is related to the fact that in previous generations, women were not viewed as fully autonomous individuals, but rather, were defined by the relationships with men in their lives. The use of "man and wife" within a wedding ceremony allowed a man to retain his own personhood, but transformed a woman into a "wife", which implies that her role as a man's spouse supersedes her own personhood. That being said, many modern wedding ceremonies do actually use the phrasing "husband and wife" instead, as overt sexism has diminished and couples prefer to demonstrate equality over using the traditional phrase.

While there was obviously sexism and skewed perception of gender roles in marriage in the past, that is not where the term "man and wife" came from. Etymologically, "wife" meant woman in Middle English, similar to how "Weib" still means woman in modern German. This is where words like "midwife" and "fishwife" come from; no one is suggesting that they are related to fish. The word "wife" gradually transformed to mean a woman who was married to a man but again, that is not its origin. Also, like other posters have said, many people say "husband and wife" in modern ceremonies.

Thank you all very much for your answers :) it's a really interesting thing

i think it's somthing old and more traditional still used till these days tho . Not a long time ago the woman wasn't considred as an equal contributor in the society as much as a man ,so saying a husband and wife would somehow equlize both sides wich wasn't acceptable that time , and by saying a man and wife that will define the man as an owner of the partnership between both sides , not so nice but can't find another explanation

It comes from an old belief that boys did not become men until they were married. Plus what the above commentor said