I did't know what widows and orphans are so I looked it up.
> Widow (sometimes called orphan)
> Orphan (sometimes called widow)
> Runt (sometimes called widow or orphan)
Yeah I'm glad we programmers are not the only ones bad at naming things...
> Widow (sometimes called orphan)
> Orphan (sometimes called widow)
> Runt (sometimes called widow or orphan)
Yeah I'm glad we programmers are not the only ones bad at naming things...
So, no wonder people confuse them, because the popular mapping is wrong.
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.