brother-in-law
/ˈbɹʌðɚ ɪn ˌlɔ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
cot caught merger/ˈbɹʌðɚ ɪn ˌlɑ/
brother-in-law noun: the brother of one's spouse.
Noun
brother-in-law (plural brothers-in-law or (archaic) brethren-in-law or (colloquial, nonstandard) brother-in-laws)
- The brother of one's spouse.
- The US Securities and Exchange Commission has closed its insider trading investigation into stock trades made by then-Sen. Richard Burr and his brother-in-law at the outset of the pandemic, the former senator announced Friday.2023 January 6, Manu Raju, Devan Cole, “SEC closes insider trading probe into former Republican senator”, in CNN, archived from the original on 27 Jan 2023
- The husband of one's sibling.
- The husband of the sibling of one's spouse.
- He was appalled by trench conditions and the prolongation of the war, a disillusionment further encouraged by the Easter rising, in which his brother-in-law, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington (qv), was murdered by a deranged Anglo–Irish officer, J. C. Bowen-Colthurst (qv).2009, Donal Lowry, “Kettle, Thomas Michael (‘Tom’)”, in Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press
- The brother of the spouse of one's sibling.
brother-in-law meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
brother-in-law in Hindi
- husband of the sister of one's husband
- जीजा jījā, बहनोई bahnoī
- husband of the sister of one's wife
- साढ़ू sāṛhū
- brother of one's husband
- देवर devar, जेठ jeṭh
- brother of one's wife
- साला sālā
brother-in-law in Tamil
- உடன்பிறந்தாள் கணவன், கணவன் உடன்பிறந்தான, மனைவி உடன்பிறந்தான், மைத்துனன்
brother-in-law in Marathi
- brother-in-law, wife's brother
- साडू sāḍū
- brother-in-law
- भाऊजी bhāūjī
- brother-in-law; the brother of one's wife or the husband of one's sister
- मेहुणा mehuṇā
brother-in-law in Urdu
- husband of the sister of one's wife
- ہَم زُلْف ham zulf, ساڑُھو sāṛhū
- brother of one's husband
- دیوَر devar, جیٹھ jeṭh
- brother of one's wife
- سالا sālā
More languagesFewer languages
- brother-in-law in Bengali
- দেবর debor, শালা śala, শ্যালক śêlok
- brother-in-law in Telugu
- బావ bāva
- brother-in-law in Malayalam
- അളിയൻ aḷiyaṉ, മച്ചുനൻ maccunaṉ
- brother-in-law in Kannada
- ಭಾವ, ಸೋದರಿಯ ಗಂಡ, ಭಾವಮೈದುನ, ಹೆಂಡತಿಯ ಸೋದರ
- brother-in-law in Punjabi
- ਭਣਵਈਆ bhaṇvaīā, ਭਣੂਜਾ bhaṇūjā
- brother-in-law in Gujarati
- દિયર diyar, જેઠ jeṭh, સાળો sāḷo, જીજો jījo
- brother-in-law in Sanskrit
- देवृ devṛ, देवर devara, स्याल syāla, श्वाशुर śvāśura
- brother-in-law in Sinhala
- මස්සිනා massinā
- brother-in-law in Pashto
- باجه, سانډو, لېور, اخښی
- brother-in-law in Tagalog
- bilas na lalaki, bayaw, siyaho
- brother-in-law in Arabic
- شَقِيق زَوْج šaqīq zawj, شَقِيق زَوْجَة šaqīq zawja, سِلْف silf
- brother-in-law in Malay
- biras, abang ipar, adik ipar lelaki, ipar lelaki
- brother-in-law in Persian
- هیور hivar
- brother-in-law in Vietnamese
- anh chồng, em chồng, anh vợ, em vợ
- brother-in-law in Myanmar
- ခဲအို hkai:ui, မတ် mat, ယောက်ဖ yaukhpa.
- Kashmiri
- زٲمی zạ̄mī, زٲمِیہِ zạ̄miyi, سٲجُو sạ̄juv, درُٛے
Forms of brother-in-law
| plural | brothers-in-law |
|---|---|
| alternative form | brother in law |
| plural (archaic) | brethren-in-law |
| plural (nonstandard, colloquial) | brother-in-laws |
Origin of brother-in-law
From Middle English brother-in-lawe; equivalent to brother + -in-law.
Words formed from brother-in-law
Questions about brother-in-law
- What does brother-in-law mean?
- Brother-in-law means the brother of one's spouse.
- What is brother-in-law in Hindi?
- Brother-in-law in Hindi is जीजा (jījā), बहनोई (bahnoī), साढ़ू (sāṛhū). See Brother-in-law meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is brother-in-law?
- Brother-in-law is a noun.
- How do you pronounce brother-in-law?
- Brother-in-law is pronounced /ˈbɹʌðɚ ɪn ˌlɔ/ (US).
- What is the plural of brother-in-law?
- The plural of brother-in-law is brothers-in-law.
Words near brother-in-law in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: brother-in-law (page history and authors); brother-in-law (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); भाऊजी (Marathi) (page history and authors); അളിയൻ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); brother-in-law (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); જીજો (Gujarati) (page history and authors); මස්සිනා (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-brother-in-law.ogg.
Cite this entry: “brother-in-law.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brother-in-law. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.