Son

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /sʌn/

Definitions

1. A male child in relation to his parents
2. A male individual born to or adopted by parents
3. A male offspring who descends directly from one's lineage

Etymology: Old English "sunu" (also spelled "sunn" or "suna" in some dialects) is the ancient root of the modern word, and it has been stable for over a thousand years. The Old English form descends from a Germanic root shared with Dutch "zoon" and German "Sohn," which is why these three words look so alike today. What is less obvious is how the word's relatives reveal a deep grammatical ancestry. The Old English plural was "suna," and the Middle English period saw forms like "sone" and "sune" appear as variant spellings, showing the gradual shift in pronunciation that eventually gave us the modern sound. The word has maintained its core meaning of "male child of parents" throughout, a stability that few common English nouns can match.

Synonyms: child, boy, offspring, descendant, heir

Antonyms: daughter, female child, girl