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widow. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
widow, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
widow in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
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" .
Pronunciation
Noun
widow (plural widows)
- A woman whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried); a woman in relation to her late spouse; feminine of widower.
- (uncommon) A person whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried).
- (informal, in combination) A woman whose husband is often away pursuing a sport, etc.
- (card games) An additional hand of cards dealt face down in some card games, to be used by the highest bidder.
- (typography) A single line of type that ends a paragraph, carried over to the next page or column.
- Antonym: orphan
- Hyponym: runt
- A venomous spider, of the genus Latrodectus.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
woman whose spouse has died
- Abkhaz: аԥҳәысеиба (apḥʷəsejba)
- Afar: gubuna
- Afrikaans: weduwee
- Aklanon: baeo
- Albanian: ve (sq) f
- Arabic: أَرْمَلَة f (ʔarmala)
- Egyptian Arabic: أرملة f (ʔarmila)
- Hijazi Arabic: أَرْمَلة f (ʔarmala)
- Armenian: այրի (hy) (ayri)
- Aromanian: veduã f, veduvã f
- Asturian: viuda f
- Azerbaijani: dul (az)
- Balinese: balu, rangda
- Bashkir: тол (tol), тол ҡатын (tol qatın)
- Basque: alargun (eu)
- Belarusian: удава́ f (udavá), ўдава́ f (ŭdavá)
- Bengali: বিধবা (bn) (bidhoba)
- Breton: intañvez (br) f
- Bulgarian: вдови́ца f (vdovíca)
- Burmese: မုဆိုးမ (my) (mu.hcui:ma.)
- Catalan: vídua (ca) f
- Central Melanau: jabul
- Chechen: жеро (žero)
- Cherokee: ᎤᏬᏑᎶᏨ (uwosulotsv)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 寡婦/寡妇 (zh) (guǎfù)
- Chukchi: ӄликвъильын (qlikvʺilʹyn)
- Czech: vdova (cs) f
- Danish: enke (da) c
- Dutch: weduwe (nl) f
- Egyptian: (ẖꜣrt f)
- Erzya: дова (dova)
- Esperanto: vidvino (eo)
- Estonian: lesk (et)
- Ewe: ahosi
- Faroese: einkja f
- Finnish: leski (fi)
- French: veuve (fr) f
- Friulian: vedue f
- Galician: viúva f
- Georgian: ქვრივი (kvrivi)
- German: Witwe (de) f
- Gothic: 𐍅𐌹𐌳𐌿𐍅𐍉 f (widuwō)
- Greek: χήρα (el) f (chíra)
- Ancient: χήρα f (khḗra)
- Gujarati: વિધવા f (vidhvā), રાંડીરાંડ f (rā̃ḍīrā̃ḍ), બેવા f (bevā)
- Haitian Creole: vèv
- Hebrew: אַלְמָנָה (he) f (almaná)
- Higaonon: balo
- Hindi: विधवा (hi) f (vidhvā), वीडो f (vīḍo), बेवा (hi) f (bevā), राँड़ (hi) f (rā̃ṛ)
- Hungarian: özvegy (hu), özvegyasszony (hu)
- Iban: balu
- Icelandic: ekkja (is) f
- Ido: vidvino (io)
- Indonesian: janda (id),
- Ingrian: leski, leskinain
- Ingush: жеро (žero)
- Iranun: balu
- Irish: baintreach f
- Middle Irish: baintrebthach f
- Old Irish: fedb f
- Istriot: viduva f
- Italian: vedova (it) f
- Japanese: 寡婦 (ja) (やもめ, yamome), 未亡人 (ja) (みぼうじん, mibōjin), 後家 (ja) (ごけ, goke)
- Javanese: randha (jv)
- Kazakh: жесір әйел (jesır äiel), тұл әйел (tūl äiel), тұл жесір (tūl jesır)
- Khmer: មេម៉ាយ (km) (mei maay), ម៉ាយ (maay), វិធវា (km) (vithĕəʼviə) (formal)
- Korean: 홀어미 (ko) (horeomi), 과부(寡婦) (ko) (gwabu)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: bîjin (ku) f, jinebî (ku) f
- Kyrgyz: жесир аял (jesir ayal)
- Lao: ແມ່ໝ້າຍ (mǣ māi), ໝ້າຍ (māi)
- Latin: vidua f
- Latvian: atraitne f
- Laz: შირა (şira)
- Lithuanian: našlė f
- Livonian: lešknai, atrāitanai
- Macedonian: вдовица f (vdovica)
- Malagasy: mpananotena (mg)
- Malay: janda (ms), balu (ms)
- Malayalam: വിധവ (ml) (vidhava)
- Maltese: armla f
- Maori: pouaru, takahore
- Maranao: balo
- Marathi: विद्वा ? (vidvā)
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: бэлэвсэн эхнэр (belevsen exner)
- Navajo: asdzání bahastiin daaztsánígíí
- Norman: veuve f
- Northern Sami: leaska
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: enke (no) m or f
- Nynorsk: enkje f
- Occitan: veusa (oc) f
- Odia: ନିସଙ୍ଗ ଧାଡ଼ି (nisôṅgô dhaṛi)
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: въдова f (vŭdova)
- Glagolitic: ⰲⱏⰴⱁⰲⰰ f (vŭdova)
- Old English: widuwe f
- Old Javanese: raṇḍa, walu
- Old Norse: (Eastern dialect) ænkia, (Western dialect) ekkia
- Old Turkic: 𐱄𐰆𐰟 (tul)
- Ossetian: идӕдз ус (idæʒ us)
- Pali: vidhavā f
- Pashto: کونډه f (kwǝ́nḍa), باربلېزه f (bārbelíza)
- Persian: بیوه (fa) (bive)
- Piedmontese: vidoa f
- Plautdietsch: Wätfru f
- Polish: wdowa (pl) f
- Pontic Greek: χ̌έρα f (šéra)
- Portuguese: viúva (pt) f
- Quechua: ikma
- Romanian: văduvă (ro) f
- Russian: вдова́ (ru) f (vdová), вдови́ца (ru) f (vdovíca) (obsolete)
- Saho: gubnä
- Sanskrit: विधवा (sa) f (vidhavā)
- Sardinian: fiuda f
- Scots: weedae, weedae-wife
- Scottish Gaelic: banntrach f
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: у̀дова f, удо̀вица f
- Roman: ùdova (sh) f, udòvica (sh) f
- Sicilian: vìduva (scn) f, vìdua (scn) f
- Sindhi: وڌوا
- Slovak: vdova (sk) f
- Slovene: vdova (sl) f
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: hudowa f
- Upper Sorbian: wudowa f
- Spanish: viuda (es) f
- Swahili: mjane (sw) class 1/2
- Swedish: änka (sv) c
- Tajik: бева (beva)
- Talysh: ویوهژن (viva-žen)
- Tamil: விதவை (ta) (vitavai)
- Tarifit: tajjatš f
- Tausug: balu
- Thai: แม่ม่าย (mɛ̂ɛ-mâai), แม่หม้าย (mɛ̂ɛ-mâai), ม่าย (th) (mâai), หม้าย (th) (mâai)
- Turkish: dul (tr)
- Turkmen: dul aýal, dul zenan
- Ugaritic: 𐎀𐎍𐎎𐎐𐎚 ? (ảlmnt /ʾalmanatu/)
- Ukrainian: вдова́ (uk) f (vdová), удова́ f (udová), вдови́ця (uk) f (vdovýcja) (obsolete), удови́ця f (udovýcja) (obsolete)
- Urdu: بیوہ f (bīva), ویڈو f (vīḍo)
- Uzbek: tul (uz), beva (uz)
- Venetian: védoa f
- Vietnamese: quả phụ (vi) (寡婦)
- Volapük: jiviudan (vo)
- Votic: lehtši
- Welsh: gweddw (cy) f
- West Coast Bajau: baau, pituanun
- West Frisian: widdo ?
- Yámana: šupun-kipa
- Yiddish: אַלמנה f (almone), אַלמאָנע f (almone)
- Yup'ik: aipaineq
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person whose spouse has died
woman whose husband is often away
card games: additional hand dealt face down
single line of type carried over to the next page
spider of the genus Latrodectus
Verb
widow (third-person singular simple present widows, present participle widowing, simple past and past participle widowed)
- (transitive) To make a widow or widower of someone; to cause the death of the spouse of.
- (transitive, figurative) To strip of anything valued.
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto IX:Sleep, gentle winds, as he sleeps now,
My friend, the brother of my love.
My Arthur! whom I shall not see
Till all my widow’d race be run;
Dear as the mother to the son,
More than my brothers are to me.
- (transitive, obsolete) To endow with a widow's right.
- (transitive, obsolete) To be widow to.
Translations
to make a widow or widower