Standard Lemma guide

widower

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /ˈwɪdoʊɚ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: W IH1 D OW0 ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A man whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried); a man in relation to his late spouse; masculine of widow.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a man whose wife is dead especially one who has not remarried

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: widowman

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: man, adult male

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

118 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: wewenaar — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Albanian: vejan — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Albanian: i ve — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Arabic: أَرْمَل (ʔarmal) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Arabic: ارمل (armil) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Armenian: այրի (ayri) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Aromanian: veduu — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Aromanian: veduv — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Asturian: viudu — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Azerbaijani: dul kişi — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Bashkir: тол (tol) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Bashkir: тол ир (tol ir) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Basque: alargun — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Belarusian: удаве́ц (udavjéc) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Belarusian: ўдаве́ц (wdavjéc) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Bengali: বিপত্নীক (bipotnik) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Bengali: অপত্নীক (opotnik) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Breton: intañv — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Bulgarian: вдове́ц (vdovéc) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Burmese: မုဆိုးဖို (mu.hcui:hpui) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Carpathian Rusyn: вдове́ць (vdovécʹ) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Catalan: vidu — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Chamicuro: maluti — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Chinese Cantonese: 鰥夫 /鳏夫 (gwaan1 fu1) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鰥夫 /鳏夫 (guānfū) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Chinese Mandarin: 寡夫 (guǎfū) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Czech: vdovec — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Danish: enkemand — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Dutch: weduwnaar — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Erzya: доваля (dovaľa) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Esperanto: vidvo — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Estonian: leskmees — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Faroese: einkjumaður — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Finnish: leski — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Finnish: leskimies — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Franco-Provençal: vevo — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • French: veuf — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Friulian: vedul — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Galician: viúvo — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Georgian: ქვრივი (kvrivi) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • German: Witwer — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Greek: χήρος (chíros) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Hebrew: אַלְמָן (almán) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Hindi: विधुर (vidhur) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Hindi: रंडवा (raṇḍvā) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Hungarian: özvegyember — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Icelandic: ekkill — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Ido: vidvulo — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Indonesian: duda — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Ingrian: leski — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Ingrian: leskimees — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Irish: baintreach fir — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Italian: vedovo — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Japanese: 鰥 (yamoo) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Japanese: 鰥夫 (kampu) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Japanese: 男寡 (otokoyamome) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Kazakh: тұл ер (tūl er) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Korean: 홀아비 (horabi) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Latin: viduus — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Latvian: atraitnis — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Lithuanian: našlys — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Livonian: lešk — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Livonian: atrāita — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Lower Tanana: titwxenh — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Macedonian: вдовец (vdovec) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Malay: duda — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Māori: pouaru — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Māori: takahore — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Marathi: विधुर (vidhur) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Norwegian Bokmål: enkemann — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: enkjemann — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: enkemann — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Occitan: veuse — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Odia: ବିପତ୍ନୀକ (bipatnika) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Odia: ମୃତଦାର (mrutadāra) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Old English: widuwa — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Pannonian Rusyn: ґдовец (gdovec) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Dari: بیوَه (bēwa) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Iranian Persian: بیوِه (bive) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Piedmontese: vido — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Plautdietsch: Wätmaun — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Polish: wdowiec — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Portuguese: viúvo — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Quechua: ikma — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Romanian: văduv — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Russian: вдове́ц (vdovéc) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Sanskrit: विधुर (vidhura) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Scots: weedae-man — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Scottish Gaelic: banntrach — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Serbo-Croatian: удо́вац — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Serbo-Croatian: udóvac — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Sicilian: vìduvu — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Sicilian: vìduu — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Slovak: vdovec — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Slovene: vdovec — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Spanish: viudo — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Swahili: mjane — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Swedish: änkeman — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Swedish: änkling — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Tajik: занмурда (zanmurda) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Tajik: бева (beva) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Tarifit: ajjar — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Thai: พ่อม่าย — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Thai: พ่อหม้าย — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Thai: ม่าย (mâai) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Thai: หม้าย (mâai) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Turkish: dul — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Ukrainian: вдіве́ць (vdivécʹ) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Urdu: رَن٘ڈْوا (rãḍvā) — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Uzbek: beva kishi — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Venetan: védoo — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Vietnamese: người góa vợ — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Volapük: hiviudan — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Welsh: gŵr gweddw — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Welsh: gwidwer — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Woiwurrung: warrbil — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Yámana: šupun-wa — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
  • Yup'ik: aipaineq — a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Real reading context

widower in complete knowledge articles