Etymology

po po

Today it means: Mother-in-law, (especially) the mother of one's husband. Full definition →

Mandarin 婆婆 ← Cantonese 婆婆
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The story

  1. Cantonese · borrowed from婆婆“maternal grandmother”
  2. Mandarin · borrowed from婆婆“husband's mother”
  3. English todaypo po

Borrowed from Mandarin 婆婆 (pópo, “husband's mother”), Cantonese 婆婆 (po⁴ po⁴⁻², “maternal grandmother”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.