Word for parents of your child's partner

Question

There are words for relationships obtained by marriage or partnership of family members: xxx-in-law. But, surprisingly, there is no word (that I know of) for the parents of your child's partner. Or is there? Or did we forget it?

I wish there was a word for it (also in Dutch, my native language), because it is always hard to describe this common relationship concisely.

For who is interested: the Malay language has besan: relationship between parents whose children are married to each other.

The parents of my son's wife. They are: my son's in-laws. I don't know a shorter name. — GEdgar, Mar 20 '12 at 18:24
Quntae and qunba - Google Books shows words for this in an African language. — Daniel, Mar 20 '12 at 19:07
Not every single concept can be expressed by a single word. It's not that surprising that this particular concept has no word for it. — Mr. Shiny and New 安宇, Mar 20 '12 at 19:23
I agree with your first statement, but why would such a common concept not have a word for it? We should invent one! :) — Gert Arnold, Mar 20 '12 at 19:30
If you're in a context where "our" clearly means yourself and your spouse, it's unlikely anyone would misunderstand if you referred to them as "our in-laws". — FumbleFingers, Mar 20 '12 at 20:27
@FumbleFingers, I'd love to say besan, but that probably would not help any smooth communication. Yours is second best. — Gert Arnold, Mar 20 '12 at 20:46
What Mr. Shiny and New said. It's interesting that many people complain about the fact that English has so many words, and that lots of people complain that we don't have "single words" for certain things (in particular here, non-genetic relationships). I don't mind at all not having a single word for something I can easily describe using a few others. If I did have a single word, then I'd have to worry about whether I could still use it if the "linking" married children got divorced. Sounds like a lot of trouble to me. — FumbleFingers, Mar 20 '12 at 22:05
Possible duplicate of https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/132129/is-there-a-word-meaning-my-childs-spouses-parents — Nosajimiki, Nov 05 '22 at 03:05
I’ve often referred to my daughters in-laws as the out-laws — Leanne Bills, Nov 05 '22 at 02:53

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 20 '12 at 18:27

7

There is none that I've ever heard. I would simply use son's/daughter's in-laws.

answered Mar 20 '12 at 18:27

Daniel

57,547

Yes, and I do. It always seems to require some two-stage expression. One word would be easier and more elegant. And less detached. – Gert Arnold Mar 20 '12 at 18:30
1

Of course, no, there isn't would be a valid answer. I wait a while to see what will come across. – Gert Arnold Mar 20 '12 at 18:39

Word for parents of your child's partner

1 Answers1