Or the gender neutral, invariant noun: “widowen”
BTW, shouldn’t “widower” be the person who died and the survivor be called “widowee”?
BTW, shouldn’t “widower” be the person who died and the survivor be called “widowee”?
“Etymology Middle English widewer, alteration of wedow widow, widower, from Old English wuduwa widower; akin to Old English wuduwe widow”
It's one of these more universal words of Indo-European origin: https://ids.clld.org/parameters/2-770#2/14.4/149.7