Meanings
plural in-laws · alternative inlaw
- in pluraloftenA relative by marriage (or through affinity).
The house got a complete going-over before the arrival of the in-laws.
1 more example
Louie: 'Neither boiling nor baking can diminish this creature's overpowering musky scent. Only suitable for serving to unpleasant in-laws.'
2004, Nintendo EAD, Pikmin 2, Nintendo, level/area: PiklopediaSynonyms: affine
- Sometimes specifically a parent-in-law of one's child, for which the dedicated terms co-mother-in-law, co-father-in-law are rare.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA relative by marriage (or through affinity).
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Back-formation from -in-law.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 姻親 /姻亲, 親家 /亲家
- 姻親 /姻亲 (yīnqīn)relative by marriage
- 親家 /亲家 (qìngjiā, qīngjiā)parent-in-law of one's child
Danish svigerfamilie
- svigerfamilierelative by marriage
Dutch aangetrouwd familielid, schoonfamilie
- aangetrouwd familielidrelative by marriage
- schoonfamilierelative by marriage
- aanverwantrelative by marriage
Finnish puolison sukulainen, lapsen appivanhempi
- puolison sukulainenrelative by marriage
- lapsen appivanhempiparent-in-law of one's child
French membre de la belle-famille
- membre de la belle-famillerelative by marriage
German angeheirateter Verwandter, Anverwandter
- angeheirateter Verwandterrelative by marriage
- Anverwandterrelative by marriage
- Schwiegerfamilierelative by marriage
- Schwagerrelative by marriage
- no wordparent-in-law of one's child
- etc.parent-in-law of one's child
Greek πεθερικά, συμπέθερος
- πεθερικά (petheriká)relative by marriage
- συμπέθερος (sympétheros)parent-in-law of one's child
Hebrew מחותן
- מחותן (mekhutan)parent-in-law of one's child
Italian parente acquisito, consuocero
- parente acquisitorelative by marriage
- consuoceroparent-in-law of one's child
Malay ipar, besan
- iparrelative by marriage
- besanparent-in-law of one's child
Māori kaireperepe
- kairepereperelative by marriage
Norwegian Bokmål svigerfamilie
- svigerfamilierelative by marriage
Polish powinowaty, powinowata
- powinowatyrelative by marriage
- powinowatarelative by marriage
- rodzic zięciaparent-in-law of one's child
- rodzic synowejparent-in-law of one's child
Portuguese afim, consogro
- afimrelative by marriage
- consogroparent-in-law of one's child
Russian родня́, сват
- родня́relative by marriage
- сват (svat)parent-in-law of one's child
- сва́тья (svátʹja)parent-in-law of one's child
Spanish familia afín, familia política
- familia afínrelative by marriage
- familia políticarelative by marriage
- pariente afínrelative by marriage
- pariente políticorelative by marriage
- consuegroparent-in-law of one's child
Swahili shemeji, mkwe
- shemejirelative by marriage
- mkwerelative by marriage
Swedish släkting genom giftermål, ingift
- släkting genom giftermålrelative by marriage
- ingiftrelative by marriage
Tagalog manugang
- manugangrelative by marriage
Turkish kayın, dünür
- kayınrelative by marriage
- dünürparent-in-law of one's child
Cite this entry
in-law. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in-law
“in-law.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in-law. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in-law,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in-law.
Source: in-law on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.