# Sister-in-law, brother-in-law



## Kraus

In Italian, *sister/brother-in-law* is *cognata/cognato*


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## Outsider

In Portuguese it's similar, *cunhada/cunhado*.


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## Kraus

In French: *belle soeur/beau frère*


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## modus.irrealis

Personally, I find it interesting to see how different languages label all these relations. Greek has three sets of words for the sibling-in-law relation depending on what the relation exactly is:

κουνιάδος / κουνιάδα (kunyados / kunyada) refer to your spouse's brother / sister (my dictionary says they were borrowed from Venetian which explains the resemblance with the Italian and Portuguese terms)

γαμπρός / νύφη (gambros / nifi) refer to your sibling's husband / wife (and literally mean groom / bride).

μπατζανάκης / μπατζανάκισσα _or_ συννυφάδα (badzanakis / badzanakissa _or_ sinifada) refer to your spouse's sibling's husband / wife.

(So many slashes, but hopefully that's clear.)


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

In Slovene: *svakinja / svak*
in regardless the agnate/cognate relationships.


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## Alijsh

Persian

(*zan*: wife; *barâdar*: brother; *xâhar*: sister; *šowhar*: husband)

sister-in-law:
the wife of your brother - *zanbarâdar*
the sister of your husband - *xâharšowhar*
the sister of your wife - *xâharzan*
the wife of the brother of your husband - *jâri*
the wife of the brother of your wife - *záne barâdarzan*

brother-in-law:
the brother of your husband - *barâdaršowhar*
the brother of your wife - *barâdarzan*
the man who is married to your sister - *šowharxâhar*, *dâmâd*
the man who is married to the sister of your wife - *bâjenâq*
the man who is married to the sister of your husband - *šowháre xâharšowhar*


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## Setwale_Charm

In Russian it is more complicated than that: the brother of your wife is your *шурин*
and the husband of your sister is *свояк*
The sister of your husband is your *золовка* or *невестка*
the brother of your husband is 
I am not sure about the wife of your brother 
The sister of your wife is *свояченица*


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## mimi2

Vietnamese: 
sister-in-law: chị / em dâu.
brother-in-law: anh / em rễ.


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## Setwale_Charm

mimi2 said:


> Vietnamese:
> sister-in-law: chị, em dâu.
> brother-in-law: anh, em chồng.


 

For all "kinds" of brothers and sisters-in-law?


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## mimi2

Sorry, Setwale_Charm.
I made mistakes. It should be "anh, em rễ" not "anh, em chồng". I have to edit it.
"anh, em chồng" means my husband's brothers. 
To make it clear I say again: 
I call my elder brother’s wife “chị dâu”. Similarly, I call my younger brother’s wife “em dâu”.
I call my elder sister’s husband “anh rễ” or “em rễ” if he is my younger sister's husband.


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## Setwale_Charm

Then, I suggest you put a / between *chị* and *em* , *anh* /*em*


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## Maja

In Serbian:

sister-in-law:
brother's wife - *snaja/snaha (*also daughter-in-law)
husband's sister - *zaova*
wife's sister -  *svastika*
wife of husband's brother - *jetrva*
wife of wife's  brother - *šurnjaja*

brother-in-law:
sister's husband - *zet *(also son-in-law)
husband's brother - *dever*
wife's  brother - *šurak*
husband of wife's sister -  *pašenog*.


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## Frank06

Hi,

In *Dutch*:
sister-in-law: schoonzus
brother-in-law: schoonbroer (mainly in Flanders), zwager (mainly in The Netherlands), behuwdbroeder (very obsolete).

Groetjes,

Frank


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## OldAvatar

Romanian:

cumnată / cumnat


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*:

brother-in-law = _bofrato_
sister-in-law = _bofratino_


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## palomnik

Setwale_Charm said:


> In Russian it is more complicated than that: the brother of your wife is your *шурин*
> and the husband of your sister is *свояк*
> The sister of your husband is your *золовка* or *невестка*
> the brother of your husband is
> I am not sure about the wife of your brother
> The sister of your wife is *свояченица*


 
Setwale, I believe that *невестка *primarily means the wife of your brother, not the sister of your husband, which would always be *золовка*.

The husband of your sister is *зять. *

The brother of your husband is *деверь.*

And the one l like best, *свояк, *is a wife's sister's husband (it makes my head spin!). As far as I know, there's no special word for a husband's brother's wife, although I think that *невестка *gets pressed into service for that.

There is as much pandemonium when it comes to parents-in-law, and the whole system is so complex that I think many Russians don't get it right any more, resorting instead to phrases like *брат жены, сестра мужа* and the like.

It's always interested my why Russian has all these words, especially when it has a paucity of words for blood relations, e.g., there is no single word for "cousin."


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## DearPrudence

To expand a bit on the French words:

*brother-in-law: beau-frère* (very colloquially, can be abbreviated into something like "beauf")
*sister-in-law: belle-sœur
*
Let's just note that it can be be your partner's family, or your brother/sister's partner.
And "beau/belle" means "beautiful"... which can be useful for puns...


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## kusikayo

Hello,

*In Spanish*:
Brother in Law- Cuñado, Hermano Político
Sister in Law- Cuñada, Hermana Política

*In Quechua:*
Brother in Law - Qata, Masi
Sister in Law - Warmimasi


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## Lingvisten

Danish:
brother-in-law: svoger
sister-in-law: svigerinde


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## spakh

In Turkish

sister-in-law is 'baldız'
brother-in-law is 'kayınbirader' or 'kayınço'


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## blackivy

in German

Schwägerin - sister-in-law
Schwager   - brother-in-law


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## minhtung91

mimi2 said:


> Vietnamese:
> sister-in-law: chị / em dâu.
> brother-in-law: anh / em rễ.



It's spelled anh/em rể! !


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## mimi2

minhtung91 said:


> It's spelled anh/em rể! !


Thank you, minhtung.
I am sorry.  Yes, it should be "rể" not "rễ" (root)


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## ayessa003

In Filipino, sister-in-law [sister of husband, wife of brother, etc. as long she is female] is hipag and brother-in-law [brother of wife, husband of sister, etc as long as he is male] is bayaw.


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## Thomas1

sister-in-law -- szwagierka (sister of wife or husband) 
brother-in-law -- szwagier
sister-in-law -- bratowa (wife of a brother)


Tom


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## Zsanna

Only two forms in Hungarian, too. 
Sister-in-law - *sógornő* -  is coined from brother-in- law - *sógor* - + a word meaning woman (= nő).


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## Qcumber

ayessa003 said:


> In Filipino, sister-in-law [sister of husband, wife of brother, etc. as long she is female] is hipag and brother-in-law [brother of wife, husband of sister, etc as long as he is male] is bayaw.


*bayáw* = brother-in-law
*hípag* = sister-in-law
What does *bilás* mean? How do you use it?


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## ayessa003

Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me that. I forgot to include this word!!!

bilas = brother-in-law's wife or sister-in-law's husband 

So, the wife of your "bayaw" or the husband of your "hipag" is your "bilas".


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## Qcumber

ayessa003 said:


> bilas = brother-in-law's wife or sister-in-law's husband. So, the wife of your "bayaw" or the husband of your "hipag" is your "bilas".


Isn't the wife of your _bayáw_ "brother-in-law" your sister? ... and the husband of your _hípag_ "sister-in-law" your brother?


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## ayessa003

I am sorry I didn't explain it well. Bilas is the wife of your _bayaw_, [brother-in-law which is the brother of your husband / wife] or the husband of your _hipag_ [sister-in-law which is the sister of your wife / husband].


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## Qcumber

ayessa003 said:


> I am sorry I didn't explain it well. Bilas is the wife of your _bayaw_, [brother-in-law which is the brother of your husband / wife] or the husband of your _hipag_ [sister-in-law which is the sister of your wife / husband].


It’s not clear. Let me sum up what I have understood so far.

Let’s take three families: X, Y and Z. Each family has two children: a son (S) and a daughter (D). For instance father X and mother X have a son (SX) and a daughter (DX). SX is DY’s brother (kapatíd). DY is SY’s sister (kapatíd), etc.

So we’ve got six young people in age to marry: SX, DX, SY, DY, SZ, DZ.

SX marries DY. DX marries SZ.

SX is DY's husband.
SX is the brother-in-law (*bayáw*) of 
1) SY (his wife’s brother)
2) SZ (his sister’s husband)
3) DZ (his sister’s husband’s sister)

DX is SZ's wife.
DX is the sister-in-law (*hípag*) of 
1) SY (her brother’s wife’s brother)
2) DY (her brother’s wife)
3) DZ (her husband’s sister)

How would you use *bilás* in this system?


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## Mahaodeh

In Arabic, your husband/wife's male memebers are *Hamu*, female memebers are *Hamaat* (mostly people use it for husband/wife's parents, but it actually applies to all). The man that married your daughter/sister (and his father/brother..etc.) is *naseeb*, the woman that married your son/brother is *kanna*. The man that married your wife's sister is *silf* (you and him married sisters), the woman that married your husband's brother is *silfa* (you and her married brothers).

Sometimes, you refer to your husband/wife's mother with aunt and father with uncle.  However, unless they actually are your aunt and uncle, it's sort of like refering to them as mum and dad - just a means of respect.

This is from what I can recall from the top of my head. Other in-laws are named based on the above; example: the man that married your husband's sister is "naseeb hamaai/hamati/zawji", the woman that married your wife's brother is "kannat hamaati/hamaai/zawjati" and so on.


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## kusurija

In Czech:
sister-in-law = švagrová
brother-in-law = švagr

In Lithuanian:
sister-in-law(brother's wife) = brolienė
(husband's/wife's sister): vyro/žmonos sesuo
brother-in-law(sister's husband) = seserėnas
(husband's/wife's brother): vyro/žmonos brolis or svainis


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## ayessa003

Qcumber said:


> It’s not clear. Let me sum up what I have understood so far.
> 
> Let’s take three families: X, Y and Z. Each family has two children: a son (S) and a daughter (D). For instance father X and mother X have a son (SX) and a daughter (DX). SX is DY’s brother (kapatíd). DY is SY’s sister (kapatíd), etc.
> 
> So we’ve got six young people in age to marry: SX, DX, SY, DY, SZ, DZ.
> 
> SX marries DY. DX marries SZ.
> 
> SX is DY's husband.
> SX is the brother-in-law (*bayáw*) of
> 1) SY (his wife’s brother)
> 2) SZ (his sister’s husband)
> 3) DZ (his sister’s husband’s sister)
> 
> DX is SZ's wife.
> DX is the sister-in-law (*hípag*) of
> 1) SY (her brother’s wife’s brother)
> 2) DY (her brother’s wife)
> 3) DZ (her husband’s sister)
> 
> How would you use *bilás* in this system?


 

SX is the bilas of DZ
SX is the bayaw of SZ and SY

DX is the bilas of SY
DX is the hipag of SY and SZ

Another example: Anne and Mary are sisters. Anne's husband is Harry. Mary's husband is Tom. It follows that Anne is Tom's hipag [sister-in-law]. Then what about Harry? Harry is Tom's bilas.


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## jana.bo99

Croatian:

Sister in law   -   Snaja

Brother in law -   Zet


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## chriskardos

In Hungarian:
Brother-in-law : Sógor (pro: Sho' gore)
Sister-in-law : Sógornő (pr: Sho' Gore (and a british) No


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## Consimmer

In Malay, the 'in-law' term is _ipar_, pronounced ee-par.

So, older sister-in-law is _kakak ipar_, older brother-in-law is _abang ipar, _younger sibling-in-law is _adik ipar._


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## Qcumber

ayessa003 said:


> SX is the bilas of DZ
> SX is the bayaw of SZ and SY
> DX is the bilas of SY
> DX is the hipag of SY and SZ



Fascinating! Thanks a lot.
Haven’t you made a mistake when you say "DX is the bilas of SY" and "the hipag of SY"? Using what you write about SX, I find the following.

SX is the spouse (asáwa) of DY.
SX is the direct brother-in-law (bayáw) of SY, his wife’s bother.
SX is the direct brother-in-law (bayáw) of SZ, his sister’s husband.
SX is the indirect brother-in-law (bilás) of DZ, his sister’s husband’s sister.
Hence the following for his sister DX.

DX is the spouse (asáwa) of SZ.
DX is the direct sister-in-law (hípag) of SZ, her husband’s sister.
DX is the direct sister-in-law (hípag) of DY, her brother’s wife.
DX is the indirect sister-in-law (bilás) of SY, her brother’s wife’s brother.


Perhaps fictitious names will be easier to handle than symbols.

Amador & Barbara GATBINTANG are brother and sister (kapatíd).
Cornelio & Dolores HIPAGKIT are brother and sister (kapatíd).
Emiliano & Filomena LEDESMA are brother and sister (kapatíd).

Also I suggest we add the adjectives "direct" and "indirect" to express in-law relationships that are confused in English.

*Amador GATBINTANG* is the spouse (asáwa) of Dolores HIPAGKIT.
Amador GATBINTANG is the direct brother-in-law (bayáw) of Cornelio HIPAGKIT, his wife’s bother.
Amador GATBINTANG is the direct brother-in-law (bayáw) of Emiliano LEDESMA, his sister’s husband.
Amador GATBINTANG is the indirect brother-in-law (bilás) of Filomena LEDESMA, his sister’s husband’s sister.


*Barbara GATBINTANG* is the spouse (asáwa) of Emiliano LEDESMA.
Barbara GATBINTANG is the direct sister-in-law (hípag) of Emiliano LEDESMA, her husband’s sister.
Barbara GATBINTANG is the direct sister-in-law (hípag) of Dolores HIPAGKIT, her brother’s wife.
Barbara GATBINTANG is the indirect sister-in-law (bilás) of Cornelio HIPAGKIT, her brother’s wife’s brother.

Is that correct?


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## Qcumber

Consimmer said:


> In Malay, the 'in-law' term is _ipar [...] _So, older sister-in-law is _kakak ipar_, older brother-in-law is _abang ipar, _younger sibling-in-law is _adik ipar._


Very interesting.
According to Van der Tuuk's phonetic law, the Malay /r/ corresponds to the Tagalog /g/, so Tagalog *hípag* "direct brother/sister-in-law" is the cognate of Malay *ípar *and the Proto-Austronesian term must be something like *hípaR. (R in Proto-Austronesian reconstructions represents a sound whose IPA symbol is gamma.)


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## ayessa003

Qcumber said:


> Fascinating! Thanks a lot.
> Haven’t you made a mistake when you say "DX is the bilas of SY" and "the hipag of SY"? Using what you write about SX, I find the following.
> 
> SX is the spouse (asáwa) of DY.
> SX is the direct brother-in-law (bayáw) of SY, his wife’s bother.
> SX is the direct brother-in-law (bayáw) of SZ, his sister’s husband.
> SX is the indirect brother-in-law (bilás) of DZ, his sister’s husband’s sister.
> Hence the following for his sister DX.
> 
> DX is the spouse (asáwa) of SZ.
> DX is the direct sister-in-law (hípag) of SZ, her husband’s sister.
> DX is the direct sister-in-law (hípag) of DY, her brother’s wife.
> DX is the indirect sister-in-law (bilás) of SY, her brother’s wife’s brother.
> 
> 
> Perhaps fictitious names will be easier to handle than symbols.
> 
> Amador & Barbara GATBINTANG are brother and sister (kapatíd).
> Cornelio & Dolores HIPAGKIT are brother and sister (kapatíd).
> Emiliano & Filomena LEDESMA are brother and sister (kapatíd).
> 
> Also I suggest we add the adjectives "direct" and "indirect" to express in-law relationships that are confused in English.
> 
> *Amador GATBINTANG* is the spouse (asáwa) of Dolores HIPAGKIT.
> Amador GATBINTANG is the direct brother-in-law (bayáw) of Cornelio HIPAGKIT, his wife’s bother.
> Amador GATBINTANG is the direct brother-in-law (bayáw) of Emiliano LEDESMA, his sister’s husband.
> Amador GATBINTANG is the indirect brother-in-law (bilás) of Filomena LEDESMA, his sister’s husband’s sister.
> 
> 
> *Barbara GATBINTANG* is the spouse (asáwa) of Emiliano LEDESMA.
> Barbara GATBINTANG is the direct sister-in-law (hípag) of Emiliano LEDESMA, her husband’s sister.
> Barbara GATBINTANG is the direct sister-in-law (hípag) of Dolores HIPAGKIT, her brother’s wife.
> Barbara GATBINTANG is the indirect sister-in-law (bilás) of Cornelio HIPAGKIT, her brother’s wife’s brother.
> 
> Is that correct?


 
Yeah. Sorry about DX. I actually think you made it clearer when you said about "direct" and "indirect" in-law relatonships. And yeah, your examples are correct. You got it!!!


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## Qcumber

ayessa003 said:


> Yeah. Sorry about DX. I actually think you made it clearer when you said about "direct" and "indirect" in-law relatonships. And yeah, your examples are correct. You got it!!!


Thanks a lot. Dictionaries are not clear at all about this particular feature of Tagalog. I suppose it also exists in all major Philippines languages. Merry Christmas.


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## KnightMove

*Mod note:*
*This new thread was merged with the previous one to avoid repetitions. Please, everybody, don't forget to search the forum before opening new threads.*
*Thanks.*


In English, a _brother-in-law_ is (ignoring same-sex marriage; sister-in-law analogue):

The brother of one's spouse
The husband of one's sister
The husband of the sister of one's spouse
However, other languages have different conventions. German, for example, has the words: 

_Schwager: _

The brother of one's spouse
The husband of one's sibling
_Schwippschwager: _

The husband of the sister of one's spouse
The brother of the spouse of one's sibling
What are the terms and definitions in other languages?


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## sokol

Interesting, because I never ever have heard "Schwippschwager" and "Schwager" means, at least certainly for Upper Austria (or at least for Mühlviertel) but probably for norhern and eastern Austria as a whole, both the meanings you've mentioned for "Schwager" and "Schwippschwager".

I grew up in Upper Austria, went to university in Graz (okay, as students we didn't talk much about relatives ...) and now I'm living in Vienna - I've nowhere ever heard the word "Schwippschwager" and I cannot remember having ever read the word anywhere in literature.

But it's mentioned in dictionaries (though not in the Österreichisches Wörterbuch). So probably "Schwippschwager" is used only regionally.
(Where do you use "Schwippschwager" and where have you heard this word used? by people who grew up there or by migrants/immigrants?)


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## horusankh

Hi,

In Spanish it's: 


_Cuñado: _

The brother of one's spouse
The husband of one's sibling
_Cuñada:_

The sister of one's spouse
The wife of one's sibling
_Concuño:_ 

The husband of the sister of one's spouse
The brother of the spouse of one's sibling
_Concuña:_

The wife of the brother of one's spouse
The sister of the spouse of one's sibling
Greetings.


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## yecru

horusankh said:


> Hi,
> 
> In Spanish it's:
> 
> _Cuñado_*: *
> The brother of one's spouse
> The husband of one's sibling
> _Cuñada:_
> The sister of one's spouse
> The wife of one's sibling
> _Concuño:_
> The husband of the sister of one's spouse
> The brother of the spouse of one's sibling
> _Concuña:_
> The wife of the brother of one's spouse
> The sister of the spouse of one's sibling


That's interesting because I'd never heard the word _Concuño/a _before, only _Cuñado/a. _I looked it up in the RAE dictionary and it says that it's used in América and the Canaries; it seems the Spanish (from Spain) version is _Concuñado/a, _which I hadn't heard before either.

As mentioned in the original post, in English we don't use separate words to describe those different relations, at least not in everyday language, but I guess in genealogy they have more precise terms.

Regards.


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