What is "sibling-in-law"

n. brother-in-law or sister-in-law

One's sibling-in-law is the sibling of one's spouse or the spouse of one's sibling. By gender, this is specified as brother-in-law for the brother of one's spouse or the husband of one's sibling, and sister-in-law for the sister of one's spouse or the wife of one's sibling.

Just like other affines, or "in-laws", siblings-in-law are related by a type of kinship called affinity. A more distant type of relation is that of a co-sibling-in-law; that is, one's spouse's sibling's spouse or one's sibling's spouse's sibling. Just like the children of one's siblings, the children of one's siblings-in-law are called simply nieces and nephews – if necessary, specified whether "by marriage", as opposed to " by blood" or " by adoption".

One study, examining the issue of envy in the triadic system of sibling, sibling-in-law and spouse, concluded that "The sibling-in-law relationship shared similarities with both spousal and sibling relationships" and that "Relational closeness and satisfaction for all relationships in the triad were correlated."

In Islamic law (shariʿa) and Jewish law (halakhah) sexual relations between siblings-in-law are prohibited as incestuous, unless the spouse is deceased. Conversely, in Judaism there was the custom of yibbum, whereby a man had a non-obligatory duty to wed his deceased brother's childless widow so she might have progeny by him.

If one pair of siblings is married to another pair of siblings, the siblings-in-law are thus doubly-related, each of the four both through one's spouse and through one's sibling, while the children of the two couples are double cousins.

One's boyfriend-in-law or girlfriend-in-law is the boyfriend or (respectively) girlfriend of one's sibling.