Etymograph

English

widow

Widow comes from Middle English widwe ‘a widow or widower’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- ‘to separate, divide’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weydʰh₁-1‘to separate, divide’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁widʰéwh₂1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*widuwǭ1reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*widuwā1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150widuwe1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500widwe1‘a widow or widower’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1850widow1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English widow
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1850, [Alfred, Canto IX: “Sleep, gentle winds, as he sleeps now, My friend,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weydʰh₁-Wiktionary, English widow‘to separate, divide’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁widʰéwh₂Wiktionary, English widowreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*widuwǭWiktionary, English widowreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*widuwāWiktionary, English widowreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150widuweWiktionary, English widow
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500widweWiktionary, English widow‘a widow or widower’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1850widowWiktionary, English widow. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1850, [Alfred, Canto IX: “Sleep, gentle winds, as he sleeps now, My friend,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- ‘to separate, divide’

division, individual, wood, device, wide, divide, devise, divisible, fid, 12 more

Today it means

noun A person whose spouse is absent: A woman whose spouse (traditionally husband) has died (and who has not remarried); a woman in relation to her late spouse; feminine of widower.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “widow”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- / widow

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