Runt
An awkwardly short last line, often one word stranded beneath the rest of a paragraph or headline.
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What it is
A runt is an unusually short final line of a paragraph or heading, often just one stranded word. It leaves an awkward notch in the block and gives that last word more emphasis than the writer intended. In editorial typesetting, a common rule of thumb is to keep the final line at least as long as the paragraph's first-line indent, but headlines need optical judgment rather than a fixed count.
Fix the words first: shorten or lengthen the sentence, adjust the measure slightly, or move a break to improve the rag. On the web, 'text-wrap: balance' helps short headings and 'text-wrap: pretty' can improve paragraph endings; in InDesign the equivalents are Balance Ragged Lines and the No Break attribute. A non-breaking space between the final two words is the firm option for a critical, controlled line.
Gotcha: a runt is not technically a widow. A widow is a final line stranded at the top of a new page or column, so the CSS 'widows' property does nothing for a one-word ending on an ordinary scrolling page. Non-breaking spaces can also cause overflow or ugly wrapping in translations, so do not scatter them through reusable copy.
Ask AI for it
Remove runts from this responsive page without inserting hard line breaks. Apply 'text-wrap: balance' to headings of six lines or fewer and 'text-wrap: pretty' to body paragraphs, then tune each text container's 'max-width' in ch units so the final line is not a lone word at 320px, 768px, or 1440px. For the fixed hero headline only, join the final two words with a non-breaking space if balancing still leaves a runt. Do not use the CSS 'widows' property as a substitute, and check the layout with the longest translated string before accepting it.