Comment by chrismorgan
15 hours ago
I am firmly convinced that the customary mapping of widow/orphan is back to front. You’re really trying to convince me that the one that has been cut off from its antecedents is the widow? It should obviously be the orphan.
So, no wonder people confuse them, because the popular mapping is wrong.
> It should obviously be the orphan.
But it isn’t obvious that a line cut off from its descendants should be a widow, so that mapping isn’t ideal either.
I propose “bereaved” — a parent cut off from its children.