嫂 (sǎo): (bound form) older brother's wife, sister-in-law
嫂 (sǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) older brother's wife.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 女 (semantic) and 叟 (phonetic). It ranks #2099 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 嫂 woman. Its radical form 女 (woman) appears in many related characters such as 女 (nǚ, woman), 奶 (nǎi, grandmother, milk), 她 (tā, she).
Definitions
- (bound form) older brother's wife
- sister-in-law
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 嫂 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 嫂子noun | sǎo zi | (coll.) older brother's wife |
| 大嫂noun | dà sǎo | older brother's wife |
| 军嫂 | jūn sǎo | wife of a serviceman |
| 嫂嫂noun | sǎo sao | older brother's wife |
| 表嫂noun | biǎo sǎo | wife of older male cousin via female line |
| 老嫂子 | lǎo sǎo zi | (slang) effeminate man |
| 育儿嫂 | yù ér sǎo | nanny (for infants and toddlers) |
| 家嫂noun | jiā sǎo | (polite) my sister-in-law |
| 月嫂noun | yuè sǎo | woman hired to take care of a newborn child and its mother in the month after childbirth |
| 空嫂noun | kōng sǎo | married stewardess of mature age |
| 堂嫂noun | táng sǎo | wife of older male cousin via male line |
| 兄嫂noun | xiōng sǎo | elder brother and his wife |
| 贝嫂 | bèi sǎo | nickname for Victoria Beckham |
| 舅嫂noun | jiù sǎo | wife's brother's wife, sister-in-law |
嫂 appears in 14 compound words: 14 as the first character, 79 as the last, and 7 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 嫂 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
这位嫂士穿着得体，举止优雅大方。
zhè wèi sǎo shì chuān zhe dé tī , jǔ zhǐ yōu yǎ dà fāng .
This lady was well-dressed and carried herself with grace and poise.
“费嫂”幸运女神加持!味全龙再见保送神剧本 2...
fèi sǎo xìng yùn nǚ shén jiā chí ! wèi quán lóng zài jiàn bǎo sòng shén jù běn 2 . . .
"Sister Fei" brings good luck! Wei Chuan Dragons pull off a walk-off walk in a dramatic finish 2...
徐乃麟带家人新加坡出游 乃嫂与洋媳同框美貌吸睛
xú nǎi lín dài jiā rén xīn jiā pō chū yóu nǎi sǎo yǔ yáng xí tóng kuàng měi mào xī jīng
Hsu Nai-lin Takes His Family on a Trip to Singapore; His Sister-in-Law and Foreign Daughter-in-Law Steal the Show with Their Beauty
月子餐送餐上门值得吗?比请月嫂做饭更经济实惠吗
yuè zǐ cān sòng cān shàng mén zhí dé ma ? bǐ qǐng yuè sǎo zuò fàn gēng jīng jì shí huì ma
Is it worth it to deliver confinement meals to your doorstep? Is it more economical than asking a confinement sister-in-law to cook?
哥哥过世留市区房产,弟弟声请失智大嫂监护权想卖房!律师教1招,不怕财产落入别...
gē gē guò shì liú shì qū fáng chǎn , dì dì shēng qǐng shī zhì dà sǎo jiān hù quán xiǎng mài fáng ! lǜ shī jiào 1 zhāo , bù pà cái chǎn luò rù bié . . .
The brother passed away and stayed in the city, and the younger brother claimed custody of the demented sister-in-law and wanted to sell the house! The lawyer teaches 1 trick, not afraid of the property falling into another...
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 嫂 (sǎo) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 嫂 and 搜?
How many strokes does 嫂 have?
What is the radical of 嫂?
What are the components of 嫂?
What are common words containing 嫂?
What characters sound the same as 嫂 (sǎo)?
Is 嫂 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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