Meanings
plural mothers-in-law · colloquial nonstandard plural mother-in-laws
- The mother of one's spouse.
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 Mail1 more example
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 - obsoleteA 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
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Middle Englishmoder in lawe
- Englishmother-in-law
From Middle English moder in lawe; equivalent to mother + -in-law.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans skoonmoeder
- skoonmoederspouse's mother
Ancient Greek πενθερά, ἑκυρά
- πενθερά (pentherá)spouse's mother
- ἑκυρά (hekurá)spouse's mother
Arabic حَمَاة
- حَمَاة (ḥamāh)spouse's mother
Basque amaginarreba
- amaginarrebaspouse's mother
Bulgarian свекъ́рва, тъ́ща
- свекъ́рва (svekắrva)spouse's mother
- тъ́ща (tắšta)spouse's mother
Catalan sogra
- sograspouse's mother
Chinese Mandarin 婆婆, 岳母
- 婆婆 (pópo)spouse's mother
- 岳母 (yuèmǔ)spouse's mother
- 丈母娘 (zhàngmuniáng)spouse's mother
Czech tchýně, tchyně
- tchýněspouse's mother
- tchyněspouse's mother
Danish svigermor
- svigermorspouse's mother
Dutch schoonmoeder
- schoonmoederspouse's mother
Esperanto bopatrino
- bopatrinospouse's mother
Estonian ämm
- ämmspouse's mother
Finnish anoppi
- anoppispouse's mother
French belle-mère
- belle-mèrespouse's mother
German Schwiegermutter, Schwäherin
- Schwiegermutterspouse's mother
- Schwäherinspouse's mother
Greek πεθερά
- πεθερά (petherá)spouse's mother
Hebrew חָמוֹת, חוֹתֶנֶת
- חָמוֹת (khamót)spouse's mother
- חוֹתֶנֶת (khoténet)spouse's mother
Hindi सास
- सास (sās)spouse's mother
Hungarian anyós
- anyósspouse's mother
Icelandic tengdamamma, tengdamóðir
- tengdamammaspouse's mother
- tengdamóðirspouse's mother
- tengdóspouse's mother
Indonesian mertua perempuan, ibu mertua
- mertua perempuanspouse's mother
- ibu mertuaspouse's mother
Irish máthair chéile
- máthair chéilespouse's mother
Italian suocera
- suoceraspouse's mother
Japanese 姑, 義母
- 姑 (shūtome)spouse's mother
- 義母 (gibo)spouse's mother
- 義理の母 (giri-no-haha)spouse's mother
Korean 시어머니, 장모
- 시어머니 (sieomeoni)spouse's mother
- 장모 (jangmo)spouse's mother
Latin socrus, socra
- socrusspouse's mother
- socraspouse's mother
Lithuanian uošvė, anyta
- uošvėspouse's mother
- anytaspouse's mother
Malay ibu mertua, emak mertua
- ibu mertuaspouse's mother
- emak mertuaspouse's mother
Māori hungarei, hungawai
- hungareispouse's mother
- hungawaispouse's mother
Norwegian Bokmål svigermor
- svigermorspouse's mother
Persian مادرشوهر, مادرزن
- مادرشوهر (mâdar-šowhar)spouse's mother
- مادرزن (mâdar-zan)spouse's mother
- خشو (xošu)spouse's mother
Polish teściowa, świekra
- teściowaspouse's mother
- świekraspouse's mother
Portuguese sogra
- sograspouse's mother
Punjabi ਸੱਸ, سَسّ
- ਸੱਸ (sassa)spouse's mother
- سَسّ (sass)spouse's mother
Romanian soacră, mamă-soacră
- soacrăspouse's mother
- mamă-soacrăspouse's mother
Russian свекро́вь, свекру́ха
- свекро́вь (svekróvʹ)spouse's mother
- свекру́ха (svekrúxa)spouse's mother
- тёща (tjóšča)spouse's mother
Scottish Gaelic màthair-chèile
- màthair-chèilespouse's mother
Slovak svokra, svekruša
- svokraspouse's mother
- svekrušaspouse's mother
Spanish suegra
- suegraspouse's mother
Swahili mama mkwe
- mama mkwespouse's mother
Swedish svärmor
- svärmorspouse's mother
Tagalog biyanang-babae
- biyanang-babaespouse's mother
Tamil மாமியார்
- மாமியார் (māmiyār)spouse's mother
Thai แม่สามี, แม่ยาย
- แม่สามี (mɛ̂ɛ-sǎa-mii)spouse's mother
- แม่ยาย (mɛ̂ɛ-yaai)spouse's mother
- แม่ผัว (mɛ̂ɛ-pǔua)spouse's mother
Turkish kaynana, kayınvalide
- kaynanaspouse's mother
- kayınvalidespouse's mother
- hanımannespouse's mother
Ukrainian свекру́ха, те́ща
- свекру́ха (svekrúxa)spouse's mother
- те́ща (téšča)spouse's mother
Urdu ساس
- ساس (sās)spouse's mother
Vietnamese mẹ chồng, mẹ vợ
- mẹ chồngspouse's mother
- mẹ vợspouse's mother
Welsh chwegr, mam yng nghyfraith
- chwegrspouse's mother
- mam yng nghyfraithspouse's mother
Yiddish שוויגער
- שוויגער (shviger)spouse's mother
Cite this entry
mother-in-law. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mother-in-law
“mother-in-law.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mother-in-law. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mother-in-law,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mother-in-law.
Source: mother-in-law on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.