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The character 鳏 (traditional: 鰥) is a phono-semantic compound originally denoting a species of giant fish found in the rivers of ancient China. Its left-side radical 鱼 (魚) indicates an aquatic creature, while the right-side component 眔 provides the pronunciation and carries a secondary meaning of weeping or tears. Early dictionaries define it as a fish, but its meaning soon shifted to refer to a widower, particularly an older man bereft of his wife and living unmarried. This extended sense probably arose through phonetic loan or a metaphorical connection to the fish's solitary life, and the "widower" meaning eventually eclipsed the original piscine definition in standard discourse.
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