The kanji 婿 represents "son-in-law" or "bridegroom." It refers to a man who marries into a family, specifically the husband of a daughter. This implies taking on a new family role and often, in traditional contexts, joining the wife's household.

・On-yomi (音読み): sei (セイ) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): 婿 (muko)

⚫︎ あの人の婿 Translation: That person's son-in-law. ⚫︎ 婿入り Translation: Entering the family as a son-in-law; getting married (used by the man). ⚫︎ 婿養子 Translation: A son-in-law who is adopted into the family (to carry on the family name and line).

The kanji 婿 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), a phono-semantic compound. The character is composed of 女 (onna), meaning "woman," on the left side, which acts as the semantic component (indicating meaning), and 胥 (sho, se, or shuku), which acts as the phonetic component (indicating pronunciation). The combination of these parts suggests a man who is related to a woman through marriage. Historically, the woman (女) is linked to the man (the son-in-law), hence the formation.