widow

Meaning

Noun

1. A person whose spouse is absent:
2. (uncommon) A person whose spouse is absent:
3. (broadly, humorous, in-compounds, informal, often, sarcastic) A person whose spouse is absent:
4. An additional hand of playing cards dealt face-down in some card games, to be used by the highest bidder.
5. A single line of type that ends a paragraph but is separated from it by being carried over to the next page or column.
6. Any venomous spider of the genus Latrodectus (called "widows" because of the practice of sexual cannibalism observed among many of these species).

Verb

1. (transitive) To make a widow or widower of someone; to cause the death of the spouse of.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To strip of anything valued.
3. (obsolete, transitive) To endow with a widow's right.
4. (obsolete, transitive) To be widow to.

Opposite of

orphan

Synonyms

widower

dowager

widow woman

single

spinster

widowed

widowhood

relict

orphan

make

matron

only

render

separated

alone

surviving wife

survivors

unmarried

widow bird

bachelor

bereave

unmarried man

widowman

whidah

whydah

bereaved person

become widowed

dame

champagne

🍾

divorced person

grass widow

lay

Translations

veuve

Witwe

viuda

vedova

weduwe

viúva

χήρα

vidua

viudo

vidu

vedovo

Witwer

vídua

veuf

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈwɪd.əʊ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: widwe

Inherited from Old English: widuwe

Cognate with Old English: widu

Cognate with German: Witwe

Cognate with Dutch: weduwe

Cognate with Gothic: 𐍅𐌹𐌳𐌿𐍅𐍉

Cognate with Old Irish: fedb

Cognate with Latin: vidua

Cognate with Church Slavic: въдова

Cognate with Sanskrit: विधवा

Cognate with Persian: بیوه

In summary

PIE word
*dwóh₁
From Middle English widwe, from Old English widuwe, from Proto-West Germanic *widuwā, from Proto-Germanic *widuwǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂, possibly from *h₁weydʰh₁-, *widʰ- (“to separate, split, cleave, divide”), whence also wood from Old English widu, wudu.
Cognates include German Witwe, Dutch weduwe, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌳𐌿𐍅𐍉 (widuwō), Old Irish fedb, Latin vidua, Old Church Slavonic въдова (vŭdova), Sanskrit विधवा (vidhavā) and Persian بیوه (bive, bêva), Middle Persian wēwag, Avestan viðavā- "widow" .

Sentences

His widow , Sahana Pradhan , took over the leadership of the party .

He is survived by his widow , Lady Skeet , who resides in Milton Ernest , Bedfordshire .