Etymograph

English

widower

Widower comes from Middle English widwere ‘a widower’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- ‘to separate’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weydʰh₁-1‘to separate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁widʰéwh₂2‘widow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*widuwǭ2‘widow’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*widuwā2‘widow’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150widuwe2‘widow’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500widwe3‘widow, widower’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500widwere4‘a widower’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1850widower4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Middle English widwe
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Middle English widwere
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English widower
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1850, [Alfred, Canto XIII: “Tears of the widower, when he sees ⁠A late-lost…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weydʰh₁-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂‘to separate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁widʰéwh₂Wiktionary, Middle English widwe‘widow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*widuwǭWiktionary, Middle English widwe‘widow’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*widuwāWiktionary, Middle English widwe‘widow’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150widuweWiktionary, Middle English widwe‘widow’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500widweWiktionary, Middle English widwere‘widow, widower’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500widwereWiktionary, English widower‘a widower’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1850widowerWiktionary, English widower. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1850, [Alfred, Canto XIII: “Tears of the widower, when he sees ⁠A late-lost…”

Linked words

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

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

Today it means

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

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “widower”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂, Middle English widwe, Middle English widwere. 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- / widower

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