mother-in-law
UK/ˈmʌ.ðəɹ.ɪnˌlɔː/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
cot caught merger/ˈmʌ.ðəɹ.ɪnˌlɑː/
mother-in-law noun: the mother of one's spouse.
Noun
mother-in-law (plural mothers-in-law or (colloquial, nonstandard) mother-in-laws)
- The mother of one's spouse.
- 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.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 10:35
- Odontophobia, or the fear of dental work, seems equally plausible, as does pentheraphobia - fear of the mother-in-law.2008 October 1, “Scared of this? You must be lutraphobic”, in The Daily Mail
- A mother-in-law apartment.
- A mother-in-law sandwich.
- A stepmother.
- 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,1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
- A spicy Caribbean sauce made with peppers, carrots, onions, lime juice, etc.
mother-in-law meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
mother-in-law in Hindi
- spouse's mother
- सास sās
mother-in-law in Tamil
- spouse's mother
- மாமியார் māmiyār
mother-in-law in Marathi
- spouse's mother
- सासू sāsū
mother-in-law in Urdu
- spouse's mother
- ساس sās
More languagesFewer languages
- mother-in-law in Bengali
- শাশুড়ি śaśuṛi, হউরী houri, শউরী śouri
- mother-in-law in Telugu
- అత్త atta
- mother-in-law in Malayalam
- അമ്മായിയമ്മ
- mother-in-law in Kannada
- ಅತ್ತೆ atte
- mother-in-law in Punjabi
- ਸੱਸ sassa, سَسّ sass
- mother-in-law in Gujarati
- સાસુ sāsu, આઈ āī
- mother-in-law in Odia
- ଆଈଶାଶୁ āiśāśu
- mother-in-law in Sanskrit
- श्वश्रू śvaśrū
- mother-in-law in Assamese
- শাহু xahu
- mother-in-law in Nepali
- सासू sāsū
- mother-in-law in Pashto
- خواښې
- mother-in-law in Tagalog
- biyanang-babae
- mother-in-law in Arabic
- حَمَاة ḥamāh
- mother-in-law in Malay
- ibu mertua, emak mertua
- mother-in-law in Indonesian
- mertua perempuan, ibu mertua
- mother-in-law in Persian
- مادرشوهر mâdar-šowhar, مادرزن mâdar-zan, خشو xošu
- mother-in-law in Thai
- แม่สามี mɛ̂ɛ-sǎa-mii, แม่ยาย mɛ̂ɛ-yaai, แม่ผัว mɛ̂ɛ-pǔua
- mother-in-law in Vietnamese
- mẹ chồng, mẹ vợ
- mother-in-law in Myanmar
- ယောက္ခမ yaukhka.ma.
- Kashmiri
- ہَش haś
Synonyms of mother-in-law
Forms of mother-in-law
| plural | mothers-in-law |
|---|---|
| plural (nonstandard, colloquial) | mother-in-laws |
Origin of mother-in-law
From Middle English moder in lawe; equivalent to mother + -in-law.
Words formed from mother-in-law
Phrases with mother-in-law
Questions about mother-in-law
- What does mother-in-law mean?
- Mother-in-law means the mother of one's spouse.
- What is mother-in-law in Hindi?
- Mother-in-law in Hindi is सास (sās). See Mother-in-law meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is mother-in-law?
- Mother-in-law is a noun.
- How do you pronounce mother-in-law?
- Mother-in-law is pronounced /ˈmʌ.ðəɹ.ɪnˌlɔː/ (UK).
- What is the plural of mother-in-law?
- The plural of mother-in-law is mothers-in-law.
Words near mother-in-law in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mother-in-law (page history and authors); শউরী (Bengali) (page history and authors); mother-in-law (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಅತ್ತೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors); આઈ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); শাহু (Assamese) (page history and authors); सासू (Nepali) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-mother-in-law.ogg.
Cite this entry: “mother-in-law.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mother-in-law. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.