嫂子

• Pinyin: sǎo zi
• Hanzi breakdown: 嫂 = 女 (woman) + 叟 (elder male, phonetic) = elder brother's wife; 子 = light-tone suffix, common in kinship and body-part terms in spoken Mandarin

Meaning

Elder brother's wife; sister-in-law. A kinship term for the wife of one's older brother.

Used both as a formal kinship title and as a warm form of address. In informal settings, the term is often extended to address any slightly older married woman in a friendly way. Distinguished from 弟媳 (younger brother's wife). In northern Chinese dialects, 嫂子 is widely used in casual speech.

Examples

1. 他的嫂子为人热情开朗，每次家庭聚会都主动承担烹饪任务，把整桌佳肴做得色香味俱全。 His sister-in-law is warm and outgoing; at every family gathering she takes the initiative to handle the cooking and makes a full table of delicious, beautifully presented dishes.
2. 小李走进院子，远远便看见嫂子正在晾晒衣物，便主动过去帮忙将竹竿架上更高的地方。 Xiao Li walked into the courtyard and saw his sister-in-law hanging laundry from a distance, so he went over on his own initiative to help raise the bamboo pole higher.
3. 她虽与哥哥分隔两地，但与嫂子的关系格外亲密，两人几乎每天都会通过视频通话分享彼此的生活近况。 Even though she and her older brother live far apart, she is especially close with her sister-in-law, and the two almost always video call every day to share updates about their lives.

Usage Guide

Context: family, kinship, everyday speech

Tone: warm

Do Say

• 他离家多年，再次回到故乡时，嫂子第一时间端上了一大碗热腾腾的手擀面，说这是他从小最爱吃的味道。(After years away from home, when he returned to his hometown, his sister-in-law immediately brought out a large bowl of steaming hand-rolled noodles, saying it was his favourite taste since childhood.)
• 在这个大家庭里，嫂子不仅是哥哥的伴侣，更像是全家人的黏合剂，总是在家庭矛盾萌生之际及时化解分歧。(In this extended family, his sister-in-law was not only his brother's partner but more like the family's binding agent, always defusing disagreements just as family conflicts began to arise.)

Don't Say

• 我的嫂子是我哥哥的老婆 — this rephrasing is redundant; 嫂子 already defines the relationship precisely; simply say 我嫂子 in context

Origin & History

嫂 = 女 (woman) + 叟 (old man, phonetic sǒu with sound shift to sǎo) = elder brother's wife; 子 = light-tone nominal suffix in colloquial Mandarin

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal