An orphan is the first line of a paragraph stranded alone at the foot of a page. A widow is the last line of a paragraph carried over alone to the top of the next. Both are page-makeup faults you fix by adjusting the page, not the prose.
That is the majority position. It is not unanimous, and the disagreement is worth knowing before you argue with an editor about it.
The Definitions, and Where They Split
Three positions exist in published sources.
The majority. Orphan at the bottom, widow at the top. This is the Chicago Manual of Style's usage, and the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading's glossary agrees: a widow is "the last line of a paragraph that appears at the top of the next page or column", an orphan "the first line of a paragraph or a heading appearing at the foot of a page or column with no other lines of text following it".
The contested case: a very short last line, wherever it falls. A paragraph ending in a single word is also a fault, and sources cannot agree what to call it. CIEP files it under orphan, continuing that definition with "or a very short line at the end of a paragraph". HarperCollins's prepress guidance files the same thing under widow, as "any very short last line of a paragraph (esp. a single word)".
Wiley abolishes "orphan" altogether. In its print-ready specification the word does not appear at all, and widow covers both positions: "Text of a few words in a line by itself, ending a paragraph or starting a page, frowned upon in good typography."
CIEP attaches a disclaimer to its entire glossary that is worth repeating here, since it applies to this argument better than most: its terms "shouldn't be viewed as the only terms to use, the 'correct' or 'right' ones; there are alternatives to many of them."
The practical consequence is simple. Both are faults, everyone agrees they should be fixed, and if you are briefing someone else it is safer to describe the fault than to name it.
The "Two Lines" Rule Is About Headings
You will see it stated everywhere that at least two lines of a paragraph must appear at the top and bottom of a page. I could not find that rule in any authority.
What Wiley actually publishes is a two-line rule attached to headings: "At least two lines of text must appear below a heading at the bottom of a page. If a heading falls too close to the bottom of a page to carry two lines of text below it, then the heading should be carried over to the top of the next page." A heading marooned at the foot of a page with nothing under it is the clearer fault, and it is the one with a stated rule.
Wiley's paragraph-level constraint is a whole-page minimum instead: "There should be a minimum of six lines of text on a page, including the last page in a chapter." It also asks that you "avoid any single area of space within the text proper greater than 1 inch/2.5 cm", and states flatly that "right-hand pages are never blank."
CIEP publishes no minimum-lines rule at all.
How They Are Actually Fixed
Not by rewriting, usually. A typesetter has levers that do not touch the author's text:
- running the page one line short or one line long, which is why facing pages sometimes differ in depth
- tightening or loosening word spacing across a paragraph to gain or lose a line
- adjusting where a paragraph breaks earlier in the page
- as a last resort, asking the author to cut or add a few words
Automated widow and orphan control does the first of these for you: it pushes lines to the next page to avoid a stranded line. That is why turning it on can make a book slightly longer, and why it sometimes leaves a visibly short page. Since it changes the page count, it also interacts with the gutter, which widens in bands as a book gets thicker.
Doing This in Deckle
Deckle has a widow and orphan control setting with a companion lines value that sets how many lines must be kept together. It ships off by default, with the line count set to 2.
Off is a defensible default for a first draft, since the control shifts text between pages and changes the page count. Turn it on when you are preparing the final interior, then check the result: the fix for a widow is to push a line, so a page or two will run short. That is the intended behaviour rather than a fault.
Because it changes pagination, turn it on before you check proofs rather than after, for the same reason as forcing chapters onto right-hand pages.
Common Mistakes
- Assuming everyone means the same thing by widow and orphan. Three published taxonomies exist. Describe the fault if it matters.
- Repeating the two-lines-per-paragraph rule as though it were sourced. The sourced two-line rule concerns what follows a heading.
- Rewriting the author's prose first. Spacing and page depth are the typesetter's levers; cutting words is the last resort.
- Turning the control on after checking proofs. It moves lines between pages and repaginates what follows.
- Expecting it to matter in an ebook. A reflowable file has no fixed pages, so no line is stranded on one.
FAQ
Q: Which is which? A: Most sources say orphan at the bottom, widow at the top. Chicago, CIEP and HarperCollins agree on that core. They diverge on what to call a very short final line.
Q: Is a single word on the last line of a paragraph a fault? A: Yes, by every source that names it. They disagree only on whether it is a widow or an orphan.
Q: How many lines should be kept together? A: Two is the usual setting. No professional body publishes a paragraph-level minimum.
Q: Does fixing them change my page count? A: Usually yes, slightly, because the fix is to move lines onto the next page.
Q: Do I need to care for an ebook? A: No. There are no fixed pages, so the problem does not arise.