‘叔婆’ (shū pó) is a kinship term referring to the husband of one’s father’s younger sister. It literally combines ‘叔’ (shū), meaning ‘father’s younger brother’ or, by extension in this compound, ‘father’s younger sister’s husband’, and ‘婆’ (pó), a respectful suffix often used for older married women—but here repurposed to denote the husband in certain regional dialects and family speech. This usage is rare in standard Mandarin and mostly appears in southern Chinese dialect-influenced contexts or informal, localized family talk.

The term reflects the complexity of Chinese kinship terminology, where relationships are specified by generation, gender, relative age, and marital status. While ‘叔’ normally refers to uncles, its use in ‘叔婆’ shows how characters can shift meaning in compounds. Speakers usually prefer clearer alternatives like ‘我姑父’ (wǒ gūfù, ‘my paternal aunt’s husband’) in formal or widely understood speech. ‘叔婆’ may cause confusion outside specific regional or familial settings.