widowhood
/ˈwɪd.oʊ.hʊd/noun
widowhood is spelled W-I-D-O-W-H-O-O-D: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 72,332nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, widowhood means “The state or period of being a widow or widower” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of widowhood is widowhoods.
How many letters and syllables are in widowhood?
| Letters | 9: W-I-D-O-W-H-O-O-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 6 million words; the 72,332nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is widowhood?
Widowhood appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 72,332nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce widowhood?
- /ˈwɪd.əʊ.hʊd/
- US /ˈwɪd.oʊ.hʊd/
Widowhood has 3 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-widowhood.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of widowhood
- widowhoods plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does widowhood mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The state or period of being a widow or widower.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Widowhood in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense The period of being a widow:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | veuvage |
| German | Witwenschaft, Witwentum, Witwenstand, Verwitwung |
| Portuguese | viuvez |
| Spanish | viudez, viudedad |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does widowhood come from?
From Middle English widwehede, equivalent to widow + -hood. Compare widowerhood.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).