# Widows and orphans

> Source: https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/widows-and-orphans

Last updated: 2026-09-06
Category: Typesetting & layout
Also called: Widow line · Orphan line · Runt

A widow is a paragraph’s last line stranded at the top of a page; an orphan is its first line left alone at the bottom. Good typesetting removes both.

## Definition

**Widows** and **orphans** are the stray lines that a naive page break leaves behind. Under the Chicago Manual of Style's definitions, a **widow** is the last line of a paragraph that lands alone at the top of a page or column, and an **orphan** is the first line of a paragraph left alone at the bottom. (Some traditions swap the names; the fix is the same either way.) A very short last line — a single word or part of one — is a **runt**, and it is avoided too.

They are avoided because they break the reader's rhythm and make the page look accidental. Typesetters remove them by tightening or loosening word spacing in a nearby paragraph, running a page a line short or long (pairs of facing pages must match), or asking the author for a small rewrite.

Word processors offer a "widow/orphan control" setting; real page-layout tools and TeX give the typesetter penalties and manual control instead.

## In Bindery

LaTeX — the engine under Bindery — weighs widow and orphan penalties when it breaks pages, rather than counting lines after the fact.

## Related

- [Typesetting](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/typesetting)
- [Justification](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/justification)
- [Hyphenation](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/hyphenation)
- [Leading](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/leading)
- [LaTeX](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/latex)
- [Turn a Word Document Into a Printed Book](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/tools/word-document-to-printed-book)
- [Turn a PDF Into a Printed Book](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/tools/pdf-to-printed-book)
- [Book Publishing Glossary — 59 Terms Defined](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary)
- [Bindery — the Claude-powered book studio](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/bindery)

---

More from Infinite Library, as one map for AI agents: https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/llms.txt