Son
name, noun, phrase, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Definitions
- 1 One's male offspring.
"Before the birth of the man's child, he said: "I want a son, not a daughter.""
- 2 Son cubano, a genre of music and dance blending Spanish and African elements that originated in Cuba during the late 19th century. uncountable
"When son first emerged in the streets of Havana, in the early twentieth century, it was shut down by the police, as were most forms of African culture. Son groups, conjuntos, caught playing on the street, as was the tradition, had their instruments confiscated."
- 3 Initialism of supraoptic nucleus. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
- 4 a male human offspring wordnet
- 5 A male adopted person in relation to his adoptive parents.
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 A male person who has such a close relationship with an older or otherwise more authoritative person that he can be regarded as a son of the other person.
"Eli called Samuel his son. Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift."
- 7 A male person considered to have been significantly shaped by social conflict.
"He was a son of the mafia system."
- 8 A person regarded as the product of some place.
"I hold it to be true, that the people are the sons of the soil; and we are only their instruments here."
- 9 A familiar address to a male person from an older or otherwise more authoritative person.
"Son, can't you see that she's just a little girl?"
- 10 An informal address to a friend or person of equal authority. New-York-City, UK, colloquial
- 11 The current version of a file, derived from the preceding father file.
"Three generations of file are usually kept, being the grandfather, father and son files."
- 1 To produce (i.e. bear, father, beget) a son. transitive
"I sonned a father who would not be sonned, […]"
- 2 To address (someone) as "son". transitive
"“Don't 'son' me.” “I'm old enough to be your father,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand."
- 1 Initialism of socked on the nose. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
- 1 One of the three persons of the Trinity, believed to have become incarnated as Jesus Christ.
- 2 A surname.
- 3 Abbreviation of Sonora: a state of Mexico. abbreviation, alt-of
Example
More examples"You need not have helped my son with his homework."
Etymology
From Middle English sonn, sone, sun, sune, from Old English sunu (“son”), from Proto-West Germanic *sunu, from Proto-Germanic *sunuz (“son”), from Proto-Indo-European *suHnús (“son”), from Proto-Indo-European *sewH- (“to bear; give birth”).
From Middle English sonen, sunen, from the noun (see above).
From Spanish son (literally “tone, sound”).
From son (“male offspring”).
As a surname, from: *Korean 손 (son) *Khmer ស៊ន (sɔɔn) or Khmer សឺន (səɨn)
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.