婆婆 (pó po) — husband's mother; mother-in-law (from the wife'…

Definition

From the wife's perspective, 婆婆 means 'husband's mother' (mother-in-law); note the neutral form 公婆 covers both in-laws. The 婆婆 / 姥姥 contrast matters by region: in some southern areas 婆婆 means maternal grandmother (what most regions call 姥姥/外婆).

noun

husband's mothermother-in-law (from the wife's perspective)(dialectal) maternal grandmotherelderly womanold lady (of the previous generation)

Measure word · 个

Examples

婆婆，。
Wǒ pó po duì wǒ hěn hǎo, xiàng qīn nǚ ér yí yàng.
My mother-in-law treats me very well, like her own daughter.
，婆婆。
Zài nán fāng yì xiē dì fāng, pó po shì zhǐ wài pó.
In some southern areas, 婆婆 refers to maternal grandmother.
，。
Cūn kǒu yǒu gè lǎo pó po, měi tiān zuò zài shù xià shài tài yáng.
There's an old woman at the village entrance, sitting under the tree every day to sunbathe.

Origin

Reduplicated word

构词法gòucífǎ

重叠chóngdiéReduplication

A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.

婆póold woman

The repeated 婆 gives a familiar term for a mother-in-law or elderly woman.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

波女婆

Meaning part形符xíngfú

女女nǚwoman

Sound part声符shēngfú

波

波bō婆pó

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

婆 pairs 女 (woman) with 波, which gives the sound. The 女 part shows the character is about a woman.

Open 婆 →