widower

English

Etymology

From Middle English widwer, equivalent to widow +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪdoʊɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

widower (plural widowers)

1. A man whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried); a man in relation to his late spouse; masculine of widow. [from 14th c.]
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XIII, page 20:

     Tears of the widower, when he sees
     ⁠A late-lost form that sleep reveals,
     ⁠And moves his doubtful arms, and feels
     Her place is empty, fall like these; […]

   • 1988 April 2, Lori Kenschaft, “Film on lovers of PWAs in works”, in Gay Community News, page 6:

     What happens to the lovers of people with AIDS? How do they experience the passage from lover to caregiver to "widower"?

Derived terms

• grass widower

 

Related terms

• widow
• widowerhood

Translations

a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried

• Afrikaans: wewenaar (af)
• Albanian: vejan (sq) m, i ve (sq) m
• Arabic: أَرْمَل m (ʔarmal)

  Egyptian Arabic: ارمل m (armil)

• Armenian: այրի (hy) (ayri)
• Aromanian: veduu m, veduv m
• Azerbaijani: dul kişi
• Bashkir: тол (tol), тол ир (tol ir)
• Basque: alargun (eu)
• Belarusian: удаве́ц m (udavjéc), ўдаве́ц m (ŭdavjéc)
• Breton: intañv (br) m
• Bulgarian: вдове́ц (bg) m (vdovéc)
• Burmese: မုဆိုးဖို (my) (mu.hcui:hpui)
• Catalan: vidu (ca) m
• Chamicuro: maluti
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 鰥夫／鳏夫 (gwaan¹ fu¹)

  Mandarin: 鰥夫／鳏夫 (zh) (guānfū), 寡夫 (zh) (guǎfū)

• Czech: vdovec (cs) m
• Danish: enkemand (da) c
• Dutch: weduwnaar (nl) m
• Erzya: доваля (dovaľa)
• Esperanto: vidvo (eo)
• Estonian: leskmees (et)
• Faroese: einkjumaður m
• Finnish: leski (fi), leskimies (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: vevo m
• French: veuf (fr) m
• Friulian: vedul m
• Galician: viúvo (gl) m
• Georgian: ქვრივი (kvrivi)
• German: Witwer (de) m
• Greek: χήρος (el) m (chíros)
• Hebrew: אַלְמָן (he) m (almán)
• Hindi: विधुर (hi) m (vidhur)
• Hungarian: özvegyember (hu)
• Icelandic: ekkill (is) m
• Ido: vidvulo (io)
• Indonesian: duda (id)
• Ingrian: leski, leskimees
• Irish: baintreach fir f
• Italian: vedovo (it)
• Japanese: 寡夫 (ja) (かふ, kafu), 男やもめ (おとこやもめ, otokoyamome)
• Kazakh: тұл ер (tūl er)
• Korean: 홀아비 (ko) (horabi)
• Latin: viduus
• Latvian: atraitnis m
• Lithuanian: našlys m
• Livonian: lešk, atrāita
• Macedonian: вдовец m (vdovec)
• Malay: duda (ms)
• Maori: pouaru, takahore
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: enkemann (no) m

  Nynorsk: enkjemann m, enkemann m

• Occitan: veuse (oc)
• Odia: ବିପତ୍ନୀକ (or) (bipôtnikô), ମୃତଦାର (mrutôdarô)
• Old English: widuwa m
• Persian: مرد بیوه (mard-e bive)
• Piedmontese: vido m
• Plautdietsch: Wätmaun m
• Polish: wdowiec (pl)
• Portuguese: viúvo (pt) m
• Quechua: ikma
• Romanian: văduv (ro) m
• Russian: вдове́ц (ru) m (vdovéc)
• Scots: weedae-man
• Scottish Gaelic: banntrach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: удо́вац m

  Roman: udóvac (sh) m

• Sicilian: vìduvu (scn) m, vìduu (scn) m
• Slovak: vdovec m
• Slovene: vdovec (sl) m
• Spanish: viudo (es) m
• Swahili: mjane (sw)
• Swedish: änkeman (sv), änkling (sv) c
• Tajik: занмурда (zanmurda), бева (beva)
• Tarifit: ajjar m
• Thai: พ่อม่าย, พ่อหม้าย, ม่าย (th) (mâai), หม้าย (th) (mâai)
• Turkish: dul (tr)
• Ukrainian: вдіве́ць (uk) m (vdivécʹ)
• Uzbek: beva kishi
• Venetian: védoo m
• Vietnamese: người góa vợ
• Volapük: hiviudan (vo)
• Welsh: gŵr gweddw m, gwidwer m (South)
• Yámana: šupun-wa
• Yup'ik: aipaineq

References

• James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Widower”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volumes X, Part 2 (V–Z), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 114, column 1.