mother-in-law
/ˈmʌ.ðəɹ.ɪnˌlɔː/
"mother-in-law" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mother-in-law” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The mother of one's spouse.
Corpus desk
Index EN-mother-in-law · mother-in-law · English
mother-in-law · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mother-in-law |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmʌ.ðəɹ.ɪnˌlɔː/ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “mother-in-law” in English
Rare enough to double-check
mother-in-law is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmʌ.ðəɹ.ɪnˌlɔː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for mother-in-law in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English moder in lawe; equivalent to mother + -in-law. The correct English form is mother-in-law, spelled M-O-T-H-E-R---I-N---L-A-W.
Definition
- 1The mother of one's spouse.
- 2A mother-in-law apartment.
- 3A mother-in-law sandwich.
- 4A stepmother.
- 5A spicy Caribbean sauce made with peppers, carrots, onions, lime juice, etc.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how mother-in-law appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
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.
Odontophobia, or the fear of dental work, seems equally plausible, as does pentheraphobia - fear of the mother-in-law.
Etymology
From Middle English moder in lawe; equivalent to mother + -in-law.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.