Daily AncestorWitwe
Witwe is German for "widow"; in a marriage or death record it shows the woman's husband had died before her, often shortened to Wwe.
Witwe marks a woman whose husband has died. Marriage registers use it for a widow marrying again, and it often comes with the late husband's name, as in Witwe des verstorbenen Johann Ruf. That clue points you to the first marriage and to the first husband's death.
Before the spelling reform of 1901 the word was usually written Wittwe. The abbreviations are Wwe. and Ww., and the male form is Witwer.
As seen in a recordDeath register of a German parish, 1870s
Anna Maria Kesselring, Wwe. des Bauern Jakob Kesselring, 58 J. alt
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Daily Ancestor. "Witwe." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/german/witwe. Last checked 2026-10-28.