Is 家婆 the term for a woman's "mother in law" in Mandarin too? In Cantonese, a woman would call her mother in law her "家婆" or her "奶奶", and address her only as "奶奶".

My understanding of the same terms in Mandarin is, a woman would call her mother in law her "婆婆" and address her as "婆婆" as well (Cantonese do not do that, because "婆婆" can mean 外婆 - 'mother's mother ' in Cantonese)

My question is, do Mandarin speakers use the term "家婆" to refer to a woman's mother in law? 

I also suspect Mandarin speaking women do not address their mother in law as "奶奶" because "奶奶" could also mean grand mother (father's mother) in Mandarin. (Cantonese do not use "奶奶" for "father's mother", Father's mother is 嫲嫲 or 阿嫲 in Cantonese) 

Note: when Cantonese people mention Mandarin, we are referring 普通話, the official standard Mandarin dialect. Sub- dialects within Mandarin are not considered.
I guess we should first remember that &quot;Mandarin&quot; is a related group with many dialects.


使用者分佈圖；深綠: 官話, 淺綠: 晉語

「家婆」is topolectical (方言詞). In certain Mandarin dialects,「家婆」is a valid term for the husband's mother.

黃飛卿　《五伯娘和新兒媳》：＂五伯娘，你剛做家婆就這麼嘴碎。＂

Have a look at dialectical synonyms of husband's mother for the Mandarin dialects which use「家婆」for this meaning. Note: no Mandarin dialect appears to use「奶奶」for this meaning.

In Standard Chinese (普通話, 國語, 華語), which (with minor variations) is the national written and spoken standards of PRC, ROC (Taiwan), and Singapore, the word referring to husband's mother is unambiguously「婆婆」.「家婆」is non-standard.