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Son-in-Law

Kinship
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The husband of one's child. The term describes a relation gained through marriage.

Detailed Definition
A son-in-law is the husband of a person's child and a family member connected through marriage. Poets may invoke him in scenes of courtship, marriage ceremonies, shared work, or uneasy visits, where he stands at the threshold between outsider and kin. The relationship can illuminate questions of approval, protection, masculinity, legacy, and the changing authority of parents as a child creates an adult household of their own.
Example
Example in poetry:
A father writes of his son-in-law as “the man who learned our porch’s creaking step”; A wedding poem presents a son-in-law joining the family circle without erasing his own past; In a comic poem, a son-in-law nervously asks permission to carve the holiday roast; A grandfather’s poem praises a son-in-law for caring tenderly for the speaker’s daughter and grandchildren
Additional Notes
A son-in-law is a child’s husband. The term often appears in poems about marriage, parental expectations, welcoming a newcomer, or intergenerational change. Context can reveal whether the speaker treats him as guest, relative, or son.
Also Known As
Son by Marriage
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