co-brother-in-law

English

Etymology

From co- +‎ brother-in-law or co-brother +‎ -in-law.

Noun

co-brother-in-law (plural co-brothers-in-law)

1. (uncommon) One's spouse's brother-in-law (one's spouse's sibling's husband), especially one's wife's sister's husband; either of two (or more) men who marry sisters, in relation to the other; the brother of one spouse in relation to the siblings of the other spouse.
   • 2008, Daniel Bornstein, David Peterson, editors, Florence and Beyond: Culture, Society and Politics in Renaissance Italy, page 350:

     Knowing that he would be susceptible to the arguments of his persuasive co-brother-in-law Antonio de' Medici, Saminiato tried to avoid his company.

2. (uncommon) One's brother-in-law's or sister-in-law's brother; that is, one's sibling's spouse's brother; either of two (or more) men whose siblings are married to each other.

Usage notes

• The term is generally used in translation in South India (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh) where the local language makes the distinction. In common speech in traditionally English-speaking countries, brother-in-law may be used.
• The primary usage is for one's wife's sister's husband.

Synonyms

• co-brother (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu) (much more common)
• (secondary sense): co-uncle (in relation to a common niece or nephew)

Coordinate terms

• co-sibling-in-law
• co-sister-in-law

Related terms

• co-in-law
• co-father-in-law
• co-husband

Translations

Languages that have words for this relationship that are distinct from the word for brother-in-law. Not all are attested to have the second meaning above, though this may sometimes be an oversight.

one's spouse's brother-in-law

• Albanian: baxhanak (sq) m, mjeshtak (sq) m
• Arabic: عديل
• Armenian: քենակալ (k’enakal) (wife's sister's husband); (less precisely) փեսա (p’esa) (husband of any close relative, including one's sister or sister-in-law)
• Bulgarian: баджанак (bg) m (badžanak)
• Catalan: concunyat m
• Chinese: 襟兄 (jīnxiōng) (wife's sister's husband, who is older than oneself); 襟弟 (jīndì) (wife's sister's husband, who is younger than oneself)
• Esperanto: kunbofrato
• French: co-beau-frère; (general use) beau-frère (brother-in-law)
• Galician: concuñado m, concuñada f
• German: Schwippschwager (de), (often also simply) Schwager (de) m
• Greek: μπατζανάκης (el) m (batzanákis), σύγαμπρος (el) m (sýgampros)
• Hebrew: גיסן (he)
• Icelandic: svili (is) m
• Inupiaq: aŋayunġuq (spouse of elder sibling), nukaunġuq (spouse of younger sibling)
• Italian: concognato
• Japanese: 相婿 (ja) (あいむこ, aimuko) (a man's wife's sister's husband)
• Korean: 동서 (同壻) (dongseo) (with siblings of the same sex: a man's wife's sister's husband, or a woman's husband's brother's wife, but not cheonambu a man's wife's brother's wife)
• Malay: biras (co-sibling-in-law)
• Nahuatl: chahuatetl
• Persian: باجناق (fa) (bâjenâq) (husband of one's wife's sister)
• Portuguese: concunhado (pt) m, concunhada (pt) f
• Russian: свояк (svoják) (antiquated usage), (normal use) зять (zjat’) (brother/son-in-law)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пашеног (wife's sister's husband), пашaнац (wife's sister's husband), заовац m (husband's sister's husband), баџо m (wife's sister's husband)

  Roman: pašènog (sh) (wife's sister's husband), pašánac (sh) (wife's sister's husband), zaovac m (husband's sister's husband), badžo (sh) m (wife's sister's husband)

• Spanish: concuñado (es) m, concuñada (es) f
• Tagalog: bilas (tl) (co-sibling-in-law)
• Turkish: bacanak (tr) (wife's sister's husband)
• Yoruba: àútà
• Zazaki: becenağ m