Meanings
nounwidower (plural widowers)
plural widowers
- A man whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried); a man in relation to his late spouse; masculine of widow.
What happens to the lovers of people with AIDS? How do they experience the passage from lover to caregiver to "widower"?
1988 April 2, Lori Kenschaft, “Film on lovers of PWAs in works”, in Gay Community News, page 61 more example
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; […]
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 20
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishwidwere
- Englishwidower
From Middle English widwere, equivalent to widow + -er.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans wewenaar
- wewenaara man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Arabic أَرْمَل
- أَرْمَل (ʔarmal)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Basque alargun
- alarguna man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Bengali বিপত্নীক, অপত্নীক
- বিপত্নীক (bipotnik)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
- অপত্নীক (opotnik)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Bulgarian вдове́ц
- вдове́ц (vdovéc)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Catalan vidu
- vidua man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Chinese Cantonese 鰥夫 /鳏夫
- 鰥夫 /鳏夫 (gwaan¹ fu¹)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Chinese Mandarin 鰥夫 /鳏夫, 寡夫
- 鰥夫 /鳏夫 (guānfū)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
- 寡夫 (guǎfū)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Czech vdovec
- vdoveca man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Danish enkemand
- enkemanda man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Dutch weduwnaar
- weduwnaara man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Esperanto vidvo
- vidvoa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Estonian leskmees
- leskmeesa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Finnish leski, leskimies
- leskia man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
- leskimiesa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
French veuf
- veufa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
German Witwer
- Witwera man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Greek χήρος
- χήρος (chíros)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Hebrew אַלְמָן
- אַלְמָן (almán)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Hindi विधुर, रंडवा
- विधुर (vidhur)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
- रंडवा (raṇḍvā)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Hungarian özvegyember
- özvegyembera man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Icelandic ekkill
- ekkilla man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Indonesian duda
- dudaa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Irish baintreach fir
- baintreach fira man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Italian vedovo
- vedovoa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Japanese 鰥, 鰥夫
- 鰥 (yamoo)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
- 鰥夫 (kampu)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
- 男寡 (otokoyamome)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Korean 홀아비
- 홀아비 (horabi)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Latin viduus
- viduusa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Latvian atraitnis
- atraitnisa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Lithuanian našlys
- našlysa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Malay duda
- dudaa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Māori pouaru, takahore
- pouarua man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
- takahorea man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Norwegian Bokmål enkemann
- enkemanna man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Polish wdowiec
- wdowieca man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Portuguese viúvo
- viúvoa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Romanian văduv
- văduva man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Russian вдове́ц
- вдове́ц (vdovéc)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Scottish Gaelic banntrach
- banntracha man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Slovak vdovec
- vdoveca man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Spanish viudo
- viudoa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Swahili mjane
- mjanea man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Swedish änkeman, änkling
- änkemana man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
- änklinga man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Thai พ่อม่าย, พ่อหม้าย
- พ่อม่ายa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
- พ่อหม้ายa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
- ม่าย (mâai)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
- หม้าย (mâai)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Turkish dul
- dula man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Ukrainian вдіве́ць
- вдіве́ць (vdivécʹ)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Urdu رَن٘ڈْوا
- رَن٘ڈْوا (rãḍvā)a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Vietnamese người góa vợ
- người góa vợa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Welsh gŵr gweddw, gwidwer
- gŵr gweddwa man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
- gwidwera man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried
Cite this entry
APA
widower. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/widower
MLA
“widower.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/widower. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “widower,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/widower.
Source: widower on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.