scion

American  

[sahy-uhn] / ˈsaɪ ən /

noun

1. a descendant or heir, especially of a wealthy or powerful family.

   She's a familiar face in this Wyoming town, the third-generation scion of a cattle-ranching family.

   The two men were scions of the most powerful dynasties in the world.

   Synonyms:

   progeny, offshoot, issue, child

2. Sometimes cion a shoot or twig, especially one cut for grafting or planting; a cutting.

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scion British  

/ ˈsaɪən /

noun

1. a descendant, heir, or young member of a family

2. a shoot or twig of a plant used to form a graft

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scion Scientific  

/ sī′ən /

1. A detached shoot or twig containing buds from a woody plant, used in grafting.

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Etymology

Origin of scion

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English: “shoot, twig,” from Old French cion, from Frankish kī- (unrecorded) + Old French -on, noun suffix; compare Old English cīnan, Old Saxon kīnan, Old High German chīnan “to sprout,” Old English cīth, Old Saxon kīth “sprout”

Explanation

Use the word scion when talking about a young member of a family that is known to be wealthy, powerful or otherwise important, such as a prince, heiress or the children of, say, the President. Scion sounds a little bit like son, which is helpful because it almost always means the son, daughter or descendant of a rich or prominent family. Its earliest examples were used to refer to the young shoots of larger, older plants. It's not surprising, then, that over the centuries its meaning has shifted to include the human offspring of certain well-established families. These days it's invariably used to talk about a person such as Prince William or, say, the late John F. Kennedy, Jr. — both of whom are or were scions of their respective families.

Example Sentences

He had traveled the world and mingled with the elite by the time Fiat scion Gianni Agnelli brought him back to Maranello as chairman—and gave him a specific mandate.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

The scion of a property empire, Trump himself avoided the draft for the Vietnam war.

From Barron's • Mar. 1, 2026

“What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf?” focuses on Chip, a ne’er-do-well scion of a wealthy New Hampshire banking family where “everything had been decided for him long before he was born.”

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 26, 2026

Kikuo is more gifted but in this nepotistic art form, being part of a respected kabuki lineage is crucial, something this yakuza scion doesn’t possess.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 20, 2026

And if he, good Christian, scion of a striving class, patron saint of the twice as good, could be forever bound, who then could not?

From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Related Words

• heir