son

¹

[suhn]

noun

1. a male child or person in relation to his parents.

2. a male child or person adopted as a son; a person in the legal position of a son.

3. any male descendant.

   a son of the Aztecs.

4. a son-in-law.

5. a person related as if by ties of sonship.

6. a male person looked upon as the product or result of particular agencies, forces, influences, etc..

   a true son of the soil.

7. a familiar term of address to a man or boy from an older person, an ecclesiastic, etc.

8. the Son, the second person of the Trinity; Jesus Christ.

son-

²

1. variant of soni- before a vowel.

   sonance.

son

¹

/ sʌn /

noun

1. a male offspring; a boy or man in relation to his parents

2. a male descendant

3. (often capital) a familiar term of address for a boy or man

4. a male from a certain country, place, etc, or one closely connected with a certain environment

   a son of the circus

   a son of the manse

Son

²

/ sʌn /

noun

1. Christianity the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ

Other Word Forms

• sonless adjective
• sonlike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of son¹

before 900; Middle English sone, Old English sunu; cognate with Dutch zoon, German Sohn, Old Norse sunr, sonr, Gothic sunus, Lithuanian sūnùs, Sanskrit sūnus; akin to Greek huiós

Word History and Origins

Origin of son¹

Old English sunu; related to Old Norse sunr, Gothic sunus, Old High German sunu, Lithuanian sūnus, Sanskrit sūnu

Idioms and Phrases

• favorite son
• like father, like son

Example Sentences

McKinnon’s wife is having a baby; he makes Cookie Monster noises on the phone for his son.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Her son, Harvey, was murdered by a fellow pupil with a hunting knife in February at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield.

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A video posted by his eldest son, Deion Sanders, Jr., on his “Well Off Media” YouTube channel Wednesday starts with a clip of Sanders going into surgery.

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The couple's eldest son, 26-year-old Brooklyn, gets a few mentions in the show and appears briefly.

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He’s the son of Baptist missionaries who loved soccer as a child.

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Related Words

• boy 
• child 
• descendant 
• kid 
• offspring