Salmon - Kan

…Originally, the word widow was written as widow or widow in the Nihon Shoki and other texts, meaning a woman who has lost her husband or a single woman without a husband, and a man who has lost his wife was called yamoo and written as 鰥. On the other hand, as in the proverb "Flowers bloom for a female widow, maggots grow for a male widow," the word widow can refer to both men and women, and can also be used to refer to a person who remains single without marrying. …

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "鰥" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…元来，〈やもめ〉の語は《日本書紀》などには寡，寡婦の字があてられ，夫をなくした女，夫のない独身の女を意味し，妻をなくした男は〈やもお〉と呼ばれ，鰥の字があてられた。一方，〈女やもめに花が咲く，男やもめに蛆（うじ）がわく〉という諺にみられるように，〈やもめ〉という言葉は男女双方をさすこともあり，また，結婚せずに独身を通す者に対して用いられることもある。…

※「鰥」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報