mother-in-law

English

Etymology

From Middle English moder in lawe; equivalent to mother +‎ -in-law.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌ.ðəɹ.ɪnˌlɔː/ (enPR: mŭˈ -thər-ĭn-lôˌ)
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌ.ðəɹ.ɪnˌlɑː/ (enPR: -läˌ)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

mother-in-law (plural mothers-in-law or (colloquial, nonstandard) mother-in-laws)

1. The mother of one's spouse.

   Hypernyms: in-law, parent-in-law

   Coordinate terms: father-in-law, mother-out-law

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 10:35:

     For I am come to ſet a man at variance* againſt his father, ⁊ the daughter againſt her mother, and the daughter in law againſt her mother in law.

   • 2008 January 10, “Scared of this? You must be lutraphobic”, in The Daily Mail‎^[1]:

     Odontophobia, or the fear of dental work, seems equally plausible, as does pentheraphobia - fear of the mother-in-law.

2. A mother-in-law apartment.
3. A mother-in-law sandwich.
4. (obsolete) A stepmother.
   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility:

     Do but consider, my dear Mr. Dashwood, how excessively comfortable your mother-in-law and her daughters may live on the interest of seven thousand pounds,

5. (uncountable) A spicy Caribbean sauce made with peppers, carrots, onions, lime juice, etc.

Synonyms

(mother of one's spouse):

• ma-in-law (colloquial), mom-in-law (US, informal), mum-in-law (British, informal)
• saas (India)
• shviger (US slang)

Derived terms

• monster-in-law
• stepmother-in-law
• mother-in-law apartment
• mother-in-law's cushion
• mother-in-law language
• mother-in-law sandwich
• mother-in-law style
• (uncommon) co-mother-in-law

Related terms

• brother-in-law
• daughter-in-law
• father-in-law
• sister-in-law
• son-in-law

Translations

spouse's mother

• Afrikaans: skoonmoeder
• Albanian: vjehrrë f
• Arabic: حَمَاة f (ḥamāh)
• Armenian: սկեսուր (hy) (skesur) (husband's mother), զոքանչ (hy) (zokʻančʻ) (wife's mother)
• Aromanian: soacrã f
• Asturian: suegra (ast) f
• Avar: якьад (jakkˡʼad)
• Azerbaijani: qayınana
• Bashkir: ҡәйнә (qəynə)
• Basque: amaginarreba (eu)
• Belarusian: свякро́ў f (svjakrów), свякру́ха f (svjakrúxa) (husband's mother), це́шча f (cjéšča) (wife's mother)
• Bulgarian: свекъ́рва (bg) f (svekǎ́rva) (husband's mother), тъ́ща (bg) f (tǎ́šta) (wife's mother)
• Burmese: ယောက္ခမ (my) (yaukhka.ma.)
• Catalan: sogra (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 大家 (ta-ke, tā-ke, tōa-kee) (husband's mother), 丈姆 (zh-min-nan) (tiǔⁿ-ḿ, tiūⁿ-ḿ, tiòⁿ-ḿ) (wife's father), 丈姆婆 (zh-min-nan) (tiǔⁿ-ḿ-pô, tiūⁿ-ḿ-pô, tiòⁿ-ḿ-pô) (wife's father)

  Mandarin: 婆婆 (zh) (pópo) (husband's mother), 岳母 (zh) (yuèmǔ) (wife's mother), 丈母娘 (zh) (zhàngmuniáng) (wife's mother)

• Cornish: hweger f
• Crimean Tatar: qaynana
• Czech: tchýně (cs) f, tchyně (cs) f
• Danish: svigermor (da) c
• Dutch: schoonmoeder (nl) f
• Esperanto: bopatrino (eo)
• Estonian: ämm (et)
• Faroese: vermóðir f, vermamma f
• Finnish: anoppi (fi)
• French: belle-mère (fr) f
• Friulian: madone f
• Galician: sogra (gl) f
• Georgian: სიდედრი (sidedri) (wife's mother), დედამთილი (dedamtili) (husband's mother)
• German: Schwiegermutter (de) f, Schwäherin (de) f (obsolete)
• Gooniyandi: marriyali
• Gothic: 𐍃𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍂𐍉 f (swaihrō)
• Greek: πεθερά (el) f (petherá)

  Ancient Greek: πενθερά f (pentherá), (Epic) ἑκυρά f (hekurá)

• Greenlandic: saki
• Hebrew: חָמוֹת (he) f (khamót) (husband's mother), חוֹתֶנֶת (he) f (khoténet) (wife's mother)
• Hindi: सास (hi) f (sās)
• Hungarian: anyós (hu)
• Hunsrik: Schwieghermutter f
• Icelandic: tengdamamma (is) f, tengdamóðir (is) f
• Ido: bomatro (io)
• Ilocano: katugangan a babai
• Indonesian: mertua perempuan, ibu mertua (id)
• Ingrian: ämmä, ämmö
• Interlingua: matre affin
• Irish: máthair chéile
• Italian: suocera (it) f
• Japanese: 姑 (ja) (しゅうとめ, shūtome), 義母 (ja) (ぎぼ, gibo), 義理の母 (giri-no-haha)
• Kaqchikel: alinam
• Kashmiri: ہَش (ks) (haś)
• Khmer: ម្ដាយក្មេក (mdaaykmeek)
• Korean: 시어머니 (ko) (sieomeoni) (husband's mother), 장모 (ko) (jangmo) (wife's mother)
• Krisa: (husband’s mother) sami
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: خەسوو (ckb) (xesû)

  Northern Kurdish: xesû (ku) f

• Ladino: esfuegra, es-huegra, suegra
• Lao: ແມ່ຜົວ (mǣ phūa) (husband's mother), ແມ່ເມັຽ (mǣ mīa) (wife's mother), ສະວະສະລຸ (sa wa sa lu), ສະສຸຣີ (sa su rī), ສັດສຸ (sat su)
• Latin: socrus f, socra
• Lithuanian: uošvė (lt), anyta
• Luxembourgish: Schwéiermamm f
• Macedonian: све́крва (mk) f (svékrva) (husband's mother), те́шта f (téšta), ба́ба (mk) f (bába) (wife's mother)
• Malay: ibu mertua, emak mertua

  Brunei Malay: mama mantua

• Manx: moir 'sy leigh f
• Māori: hungarei, hungawai
• Marathi: सासू f (sāsū)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: ава (ava)

• Middle English: moder in lawe
• Mwani: mukwe
• Norman: belle-méthe f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: svigermor (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: svigermor f, vermor f

• Occitan: sògra (oc) f
• Odia: ଆଈଶାଶୁ (āiśāśu)
• Ohlone:

  Northern Ohlone: 'úqi

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: свекрꙑ f (svekry) (husband's mother), тьща f (tĭšta) (wife's mother)

• Old English: sweġer f
• Old Tupi: mendy
• Pashto: خواښې (ps) f
• Pennsylvania German: Schwiegern f, Schwaermammi f, Schwiegermudder f
• Persian: مادرشوهر (fa) (mâdar-šowhar), مادرزن (fa) (mâdar-zan), خشو (fa) (xošu)
• Plautdietsch: Schwiamutta f
• Polish: teściowa (pl) f, świekra (pl) f (archaic; husband's mother)
• Portuguese: sogra (pt) f
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਸੱਸ (pa) f (sassa)

  Shahmukhi: سَسّ f (sass)

• Quechua: aqu (wife's mother), kisma (wife's mother), kiwach (husband's mother)
• Romani: sasuj f
• Romanian: soacră (ro) f, mamă-soacră f
• Russian: свекро́вь (ru) f (svekróvʹ), свекру́ха (ru) f (svekrúxa) (husband's mother), тёща (ru) f (tjóšča) (wife's mother)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: vuoni, vuonesássa (future)

  Skolt Sami: vueʹn

• Sanskrit: श्वश्रू (sa) f (śvaśrū)
• Sardinian: socra f
• Scots: guid-mither
• Scottish Gaelic: màthair-chèile
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: свекрва f (husband's mother), ташта f (wife's mother)

  Latin: svekrva (sh) f (husband's mother), tašta (sh) f (wife's mother)

• Seri: (of a male) aaquéect cmaam
• Sicilian: sòggira (scn) f
• Sikkimese: སྒྱུགམ (sgyugm)
• Slovak: svokra (sk) f, svekruša f
• Slovene: tašča (sl) f
• Spanish: suegra (es) f

  Old Spanish: suegra

• Swahili: mama mkwe
• Swedish: svärmor (sv) c
• Sylheti: ꠢꠠꠤ (hoṛi)
• Tagalog: biyanang-babae
• Tamil: மாமியார் (ta) (māmiyār)
• Taos: kána
• Tarifit: taḍeggʷart f
• Telugu: అత్త (te) (atta)
• Thai: แม่สามี (mɛ̂ɛ-sǎa-mii) (husband's mother), แม่ยาย (th) (mɛ̂ɛ-yaai) (wife's mother), แม่ผัว (mɛ̂ɛ-pǔua) (husband's mother)
• Tupinambá: (wife’s mother-in-law) mendy, (husband’s mother-in-law; t-) aîxó
• Turkish: kaynana (tr), kayınvalide (tr), hanımanne (tr)
• Turkmen: gaýynene
• Udi: сейне (sejne)
• Ukrainian: свекру́ха f (svekrúxa) (husband's mother), те́ща f (téšča) (wife's mother)
• Urdu: ساس f (sās)
• Uyghur: قېينىنا (qëynina)
• Vietnamese: mẹ chồng (husband's mother), mẹ vợ (vi) (wife's mother)
• Volapük: lümot (vo)
• Võro: ämm
• Welsh: chwegr f, mam yng nghyfraith f
• Yiddish: שוויגער f (shviger)