Many native English speakers cannot state an exact definition of _"bride"_
with regard to when one starts, and stops, being a _"bride"_.

> Is "嫁" also vague?  
>  How bad of a translation of _"bride"_ is "嫁"?
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2015-10-19T01:18:14.510
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2015-10-19T06:56:16.527
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question
translation
What is the definition of "嫁"?
**妻【つま】** is a female spouse in general. A female partner, a wife, of any age.

**嫁【よめ】** is used on the basis of her position _within a family_. 国語事典 defines
this as something like "a (relatively young) woman _who came into a family_
after marriage". Thus it's common for a grandma to call her 25-year-old
daughter-in-law "うちの嫁 ( _our_ 嫁)". There's no strict consensus on how long one
can be called 嫁 after marriage. But an elder member in a family may regard her
as 嫁 maybe even after 20 years after her marriage. Common phrases using 嫁
include 嫁に行く, 嫁に入る, 嫁を探す, 嫁になる, all of which somewhat have "enter into a
family" connotations.

A husband may casually call her wife either (私の/俺の)妻 or (私の/俺の)嫁 (or sometimes
(私の/俺の)奥さん), depending on his preference. In a formal situation, 妻 or 家内【かない】
is the safer choice. See [this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/14786/5010) for other possible
expressions.

**花嫁【はなよめ】** is a _bride_ , as Oxford English Dictionary defines, "A woman at
her marriage; a woman just about to be married or very recently married."
Perhaps a woman is called 花嫁 only for a few days, or even only when she's in a
[花嫁衣装/ウェディングドレス](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%E8%8A%B1%E5%AB%81%E8%A1%A3%E8%A3%85&source=lnms&tbm=isch).
I'm not aware of any meaningful difference between 花嫁 and bride for now.

**新婦【しんぷ】** is semantically the same as 花嫁, but sounds stiffer and is
basically only used in wedding ceremonies.

**新妻【にいづま】** refers to a young woman who has been married (typically) for less
than a year.
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2015-10-19T05:27:07.390
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2015-10-19T06:56:16.527
2017-04-13T12:43:44.863
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answer