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未亡人 (みぼうじん) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
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ぼう
人じん
と
なっ
た
。
She lost her husband in the war and became a widow.
As a widow, she raised her children alone.
Kanji 亡 deceased, the late, dying Related words 寡婦 is the formal or legal term for a widow, while 未亡人 is the more common word used in everyday and literary Japanese.
後家 is an old-fashioned, sometimes slightly derogatory word for a widow, whereas 未亡人 is neutral and still commonly used today.
Don't confuse with 遺族 means the bereaved family as a whole, while 未亡人 refers specifically to the surviving wife.
未亡人 means 'widow' (the surviving wife), while 亡夫 means 'deceased husband' (the one who died), so the two refer to different people in the same situation.
Etymology From 未 (not yet) + 亡 (die) + 人 (person), literally 'person who has not yet died', originally a self-deprecating term used by widows implying they should have followed their husband in death. The modern meaning is simply 'widow' without that connotation.
